Sample records for non-diffracting optical metamaterials

The advent of metamaterials more than 15 years ago has offered extraordinary new ways of manipulating electromagnetic waves. Yet, progress in this field has been unequal across the electromagnetic spectrum, especially when it comes to finding applications for such artificial media. Opticalmetamaterials, in particular, are less compatible with active functionalities than their counterparts developed at lower frequencies. One crucial roadblock in the path to devices is the fact that active opticalmetamaterials are so far controlled by light rather than electricity, preventing them from being integrated in larger electronic systems. Here we introduce electroluminescent metamaterials based on metal nano-inclusions hybridized with colloidal quantum dots. We show that each of these miniature blocks can be individually tuned to exhibit independent optoelectronic properties (both in terms of electrical characteristics, polarization, colour and brightness), illustrate their capabilities by weaving complex light-emitting surfaces and finally discuss their potential for displays and sensors. PMID:27328976

The advent of metamaterials more than 15 years ago has offered extraordinary new ways of manipulating electromagnetic waves. Yet, progress in this field has been unequal across the electromagnetic spectrum, especially when it comes to finding applications for such artificial media. Opticalmetamaterials, in particular, are less compatible with active functionalities than their counterparts developed at lower frequencies. One crucial roadblock in the path to devices is the fact that active opticalmetamaterials are so far controlled by light rather than electricity, preventing them from being integrated in larger electronic systems. Here we introduce electroluminescent metamaterials based on metal nano-inclusions hybridized with colloidal quantum dots. We show that each of these miniature blocks can be individually tuned to exhibit independent optoelectronic properties (both in terms of electrical characteristics, polarization, colour and brightness), illustrate their capabilities by weaving complex light-emitting surfaces and finally discuss their potential for displays and sensors. PMID:27328976

Acoustical and opticalnon-diffracting beams are potentially useful for manipulating particles and larger objects. An extended optical theorem for a non-diffracting beam was given recently in the context of acoustics. The theorem relates the extinction by an object to the scattering at the forward direction of the beam’s plane wave components. Here we use this theorem to examine the extinction cross section of a sphere centered on the axis of the beam, with a non-diffracting Bessel beam as an example. The results are applied to recover the axial radiation force and torque on the sphere by the Bessel beam. PMID:24049681

Internal physical structure can drastically modify the properties of waveguides: photonic crystal fibers are able to confine light inside a hollow air core by Bragg scattering from a periodic array of holes, while metamaterial loaded waveguides for microwaves can support propagation at frequencies well below cutoff. Anisotropic metamaterials assembled into cylindrically symmetric geometries constitute light-guiding structures that support new kinds of exotic modes. A microtube of anodized nanoporous alumina, with nanopores radially emanating from the inner wall to the outer surface, is a manifestation of such an anisotropic metamaterialoptical fiber. The nanopores, when filled with a plasmonic metal such as silver or gold, greatly increase the electromagnetic anisotropy. The modal solutions in such anisotropic circular waveguides can be uncommon Bessel functions with imaginary orders. PMID:25968741

Opticalmetamaterials have redefined how we understand light in notable ways: from strong response to optical magnetic fields, negative refraction, fast and slow light propagation in zero index and trapping structures, to flat, thin and perfect lenses. Many rules of thumb regarding optics, such as μ = 1, now have an exception, and basic formulas, such as the Fresnel equations, have been expanded. The field of metamaterials has developed strongly over the past two decades. Leveraging structured materials systems to generate tailored response to a stimulus, it has grown to encompass research in optics, electromagnetics, acoustics and, increasingly, novel hybrid material responses. This roadmap is an effort to present emerging fronts in areas of opticalmetamaterials that could contribute and apply to other research communities. By anchoring each contribution in current work and prospectively discussing future potential and directions, the authors are translating the work of the field in selected areas to a wider community and offering an incentive for outside researchers to engage our community where solid links do not already exist.

Strongly anisotropic media where the principal components of electric permittivity or magnetic permeability tensors have opposite signs are termed as hyperbolic media. Such media support propagating electromagnetic waves with extremely large wave vectors exhibiting unique optical properties. However, in all artificial and natural optical materials studied to date, the hyperbolic dispersion originates solely from the electric response. This restricts material functionality to one polarization of light and inhibits free-space impedance matching. Such restrictions can be overcome in media having components of opposite signs for both electric and magnetic tensors. Here we present the experimental demonstration of the magnetic hyperbolic dispersion in three-dimensional metamaterials. We measure metamaterial isofrequency contours and reveal the topological phase transition between the elliptic and hyperbolic dispersion. In the hyperbolic regime, we demonstrate the strong enhancement of thermal emission, which becomes directional, coherent and polarized. Our findings show the possibilities for realizing efficient impedance-matched hyperbolic media for unpolarized light.

Strongly anisotropic media where the principal components of electric permittivity or magnetic permeability tensors have opposite signs are termed as hyperbolic media. Such media support propagating electromagnetic waves with extremely large wave vectors exhibiting unique optical properties. However, in all artificial and natural optical materials studied to date, the hyperbolic dispersion originates solely from the electric response. This restricts material functionality to one polarization of light and inhibits free-space impedance matching. Such restrictions can be overcome in media having components of opposite signs for both electric and magnetic tensors. Here we present the experimental demonstration of the magnetic hyperbolic dispersion in three-dimensional metamaterials. We measure metamaterial isofrequency contours and reveal the topological phase transition between the elliptic and hyperbolic dispersion. In the hyperbolic regime, we demonstrate the strong enhancement of thermal emission, which becomes directional, coherent and polarized. Our findings show the possibilities for realizing efficient impedance-matched hyperbolic media for unpolarized light. PMID:27072604

Strongly anisotropic media where the principal components of electric permittivity or magnetic permeability tensors have opposite signs are termed as hyperbolic media. Such media support propagating electromagnetic waves with extremely large wave vectors exhibiting unique optical properties. However, in all artificial and natural optical materials studied to date, the hyperbolic dispersion originates solely from the electric response. This restricts material functionality to one polarization of light and inhibits free-space impedance matching. Such restrictions can be overcome in media having components of opposite signs for both electric and magnetic tensors. Here we present the experimental demonstration of the magnetic hyperbolic dispersion in three-dimensional metamaterials. We measure metamaterial isofrequency contours and reveal the topological phase transition between the elliptic and hyperbolic dispersion. In the hyperbolic regime, we demonstrate the strong enhancement of thermal emission, which becomes directional, coherent and polarized. Our findings show the possibilities for realizing efficient impedance-matched hyperbolic media for unpolarized light. PMID:27072604

Optomechanical manipulation of micro and nano-scale objects with laser beams finds use in a large span of multidisciplinary applications. Auxiliary nanostructuring could substantially improve performances of classical optical tweezers by means of spatial localization of objects and intensity required for trapping. Here we investigate a three-dimensional nanorod metamaterial platform, serving as an auxiliary tool for the optical manipulation, able to support and control near-field interactions and generate both steep and flat optical potential profiles. It was shown that the ‘topological transition’ from the elliptic to hyperbolic dispersion regime of the metamaterial, usually having a significant impact on various light-matter interaction processes, does not strongly affect the distribution of optical forces in the metamaterial. This effect is explained by the predominant near-fields contributions of the nanostructure to optomechanical interactions. Semi-analytical model, approximating the finite size nanoparticle by a point dipole and neglecting the mutual re-scattering between the particle and nanorod array, was found to be in a good agreement with full-wave numerical simulation. In-plane (perpendicular to the rods) trapping regime, saddle equilibrium points and optical puling forces (directed along the rods towards the light source), acting on a particle situated inside or at the nearby the metamaterial, were found. PMID:26514667

Opticalmetamaterials promise aberration free and better than diffraction limited performance for imaging systems through constructed materials made to regulate the interaction with electromagnetic waves. Opticalmetamaterials have the potential to miniaturize the optical bench and obtain diffraction-limited performance with a single device. The reduction of size, weight, and complexity of optical systems while maintaining performance is desired. In unmanned aircrafts, buoy systems, 360 degree imaging systems, and optronic or traditional periscope systems the lenses constitute a considerable percentage of the weight and volume. Another characteristic that is desired is optical cross section reduction for both visible and infrared bands. Optical cloaking using metamaterials has the potential to make objects indiscernible from its environment by masking objects signature. Other characteristics that are desired are materials that are perfect light absorbers for stray light baffles, detectors, or solar energy harvesting, nonlinear frequency conversion for photonics devices, and lenses or head window coatings to achieve specific properties. These topics are discussed in this paper.

We demonstrate the use of interference between non-diffracting Bessel beams (BB) to generate a system of optical traps. They offer sub-micron particle confinement, delivery and organization over a distance of hundreds of μm. We analyze system of two identical counter-propagating BBs and the case of two co-propagating BBs with different propagation constants separately. In both of these cases, the interference results in periodic on-axis intensity oscillations involving particle confinement. Altering the phase of one of the interfering beams, the whole structure of optical traps can be shifted axially. Implementing this conveyor belt enables the particle delivery over the whole distance where the optical traps are strong enough for particle confinement. Experimentally we succeeded with generation of both of these systems. In case of two counter-propagating BBs we observed a strong sub-micron particle confinement, while in case of co-propagating BBs the confinement was observed only with help of fluid flow against the radiation pressure of both beams.

Metamaterials are a class of man-made materials with exotic electromagnetic properties. The ability to fabricate three-dimensional macroscale metamaterials would enable embedding these structures in engineering applications and devices, to take advantage of their unique properties. This paper reviews the implementation of optical Mie resonance-based dielectric (MRD) metamaterials, as opposed to the more commonly used metallic-based metamaterials. Design constraints are derived based on Mie theory and related to fabrication specifications. Techniques to fabricate optical dielectric metamaterials are reviewed, including electron-beam lithography, focused ion beam lithography, nanoimprint lithography, and directed self-assembly. The limitations of each fabrication method are critically evaluated in light of the design constraints. The challenges that must be overcome to achieve fabrication and implementation of macroscale three-dimensional MRD metamaterials are discussed.

Opticalmetamaterials have unique engineered optical properties. These properties arise from the careful organization of plasmonic elements. Transitioning these properties from laboratory experiments to functional materials may lead to disruptive technologies for controlling light. A significant issue impeding the realization of opticalmetamaterial devices is the need for robust and efficient assembly strategies to govern the order of the nanometer-sized elements while enabling macroscopic throughput. This mini-review critically highlights recent approaches and challenges in creating these artificial materials. As the ability to assemble opticalmetamaterials improves, new unforeseen opportunities may arise for revolutionary optical devices. PMID:26560623

Metals exhibit strong and fast nonlinearities making metallic, plasmonic, structures very promising for ultrafast all-optical applications at low light intensities. Combining metallic nanostructures in metamaterials provides additional functionalities via prospect of precise engineering of spectral response and dispersion. From this point of view, hyperbolic metamaterials, in particular those based on plasmonic nanorod arrays, provide wealth of exciting possibilities in nonlinear optics offering designed linear and nonlinear properties, polarization control, spontaneous emission control and many others. Experiments and modeling have already demonstrated very strong Kerr-nonlinear response and its ultrafast recovery due to the nonlocal nature of the plasmonic mode of the metamaterial, so that small changes in the permittivity of the metallic component under the excitation modify the nonlocal response that in turn leads to strong changes of the metamaterial transmission. In this talk, we will discuss experimental studies and numerical modeling of second- and third-order nonlinear optical processes in hyperbolic metamaterials based on metallic nanorods and other plasmonic systems where coupling between the resonances plays important role in defining nonlinear response. Second-harmonic generation and ultrafast Kerr-type nonlinearity originating from metallic component of the metamaterial will be considered, including nonlinear magneto-optical effects. Nonlinear optical response of stand-alone as well as integrated metamaterial components will be presented. Some of the examples to be discussed include nonlinear polarization control, nonlinear metamaterial integrated in silicon photonic circuitry and second-harmonic generation, including magneto-optical effects.

We demonstrate, for the first time, an all-dielectric metamaterial composite in the midinfrared based on micron-sized, high-index tellurium dielectric resonators. Dielectric resonators are desirable compared to conventional metallodielectric metamaterials at optical frequencies as they are largely angular invariant, free of Ohmic loss, and easily integrated into three-dimensional volumes. Measurements and simulation provide evidence of optical magnetism, which could be used for infrared magnetic mirrors, hard or soft surfaces, and subwavelength cavities. PMID:22463666

Optical activity in chiral metamaterials is demonstrated in simulation and shows actively tunable giant polarization rotation at THz frequencies. Electric current distributions show that pure chirality is achieved by our bi-Iayer chiral metamaterial design. The chirality can be optically controlled by illumination with near-infrared light. Optical activity, occurring in chiral materials such as DNA, sugar and many other bio-molecules, is a phenomenon of great importance to many areas of science including molecular biology, analytical chemistry, optoelectronics and display applications. This phenomenon is well understood at an effective medium level as a magnetic/electric moment excited by the electric/magnetic field of the incident electromagnetic (EM) wave. Usually, natural chiral materials exhibit very weak optical activity e.g. a gyrotropic quartz crystal. The optical activity of chiral metamaterials, however, can be five orders of magnitude stronger. Chiral metamaterials are made of sub-wavelength resonators lacking symmetry planes. The asymmetry allows magnetic moments to be excited by the electric field of the incident EM wave and vice versa. Recently, chiral metamaterials have been demonstrated and lead to prospects in giant optical activity, circular dichroism, negative refraction and reversing the Casmir force. These fascinating optical properties require strong chirality, which may be designed through the microscopic structure of chiral metamaterials. However, these metamaterials have a fixed response function, defined by the geometric structuring, which limits their ability to manipulate EM waves. Active metamaterials realize dynamic control of response functions and have produced many influential applications such as ultra-fast switching devices, frequency and phase modulation and memory devices. Introducing active designs to chiral metamaterials will give additional freedom in controlling the optical activity, and therefore enable dynamic manipulation

Self-assembled metamaterials constitute a promising platform to achieving bulk and homogenous optical materials that exhibit unusual effective medium properties. For many years now, the research community has contemplated lithographically fabricated metasurfaces, with extraordinary optical features. However, achieving large volumes at low cost is still a challenge by top-down fabrication. Bottom-up fabrication, that relies both on nanochemistry and self-assembly, is capable of building such materials while greatly reducing the energy footprint in the formulation of the metamaterial. Self-assembled metamaterials have shown that they are capable of reaching unprecedented values of bulkiness and homogeneity figures of merit. This feat is achieved by synthesizing plasmonic nanoresonators (meta-atoms in the sense of artificial polarizable units) and assembling them into a fully three-dimensional matrix through a variety of methods. Furthermore it has been shown that a wide range of material parameters can be tailored by controlling the geometry and composition of the meta-atoms as well as the volume fraction of the nano-objects in the metamaterial. Here we conduct a non-comprehensive review of some of the recent trends in self-assembled opticalmetamaterials and illustrate these trends with our recent work.

Nanotechnology has paved the way for artificial materials which have electromagnetic, mechanical, thermal and acoustic properties beyond those which are ordinarily found in nature. Photonic nanomaterials hold the promise:- to usher in a new generation of photonic devices with imaging capabilities well beyond the reach of conventional optics, to drive CMOS compatible nanophotonics research for sustaining Moores law and even address pressing societal needs of solar energy harvesting. The central theme of this thesis is the understanding of the essential physics for new devices based on nanofabricated metamaterials, where the bulk macroscopic material properties are governed and tailored at will, according to the constituent nanostructured building blocks. The particular class of metamaterials considered are uniaxial media with an extreme dielectric anisotropy i.e. materials with dielectric constants of opposite signs in the dielectric tensor. This gives rise to a hyperbolic dispersion relation for extraordinary propagating waves in the medium. We unravel a unique singularity in the photonic density of states (PDOS) of such hyperbolic metamaterials. The remarkable property which sets it apart from other photonic systems is the broad spectral bandwidth in which the PDOS diverges, paving the way for a new approach to controlling broadband light-matter interaction. We use the unique electromagnetic metamaterial states that cause the divergence in the PDOS for two specific device applications: subdiffraction imaging and quantum optics. We solve the long standing problem of the fundamental diffraction limit which plagues all conventional optical imaging systems using a device called the hyperlens, comprising of nanostructured hyperbolic metamaterials. The hyperlens produces magnified images of subwavelength objects in the far-field, promising to revolutionize applications such as nano-bio imaging and subdiffraction lithography. We show that the hyperlens can be understood

Control over mechanical motion of nanoscale particles is a valuable functionality desired in a variety of multidisciplinary applications, e.g., biophysics, and it is usually achieved by employing optical forces. Hyperbolic metamaterials enable tailoring and enhancing electromagnetic scattering and, as the result, provide a platform for a new type of optical manipulation. Here optical pulling forces acting on a small particle placed inside a hyperbolic metamaterial slab were predicted and analyzed. In order to attract particles to a light source, highly confined extraordinary modes of hyperbolic metamaterial were excited via scattering from an imperfection situated at the slab's interface. This type of structured illumination together with remarkable scattering properties, inspired by the hyperbolic dispersion in the metamaterial, creates optical attraction. Forces acting on high-, low-index dielectric, and gold particles were investigated and it was shown that the pulling effect emerges in all of the cases. The ability to control mechanical motion at nanoscale using auxiliary photonic structures paves the way for investigation of various phenomena, e.g., biochemical reactions, molecular dynamics, and more.

Optical phase conjugation by degenerate four-wave mixing in nonlinear metamaterials is studied theoretically by solving the coupled wave equations using a generalized version of the invariant imbedding method. The phase-conjugate reflectance and the lateral shift of the phase-conjugate reflected beams are calculated and their dependencies on the frequency, the polarization, the incident angle, the material properties and the structure are investigated in detail. It is found that the efficiency of phase conjugation can be significantly enhanced due to the enhancement of electromagnetic fields in various metamaterial structures. PMID:25607488

The field of metamaterials is driven by fascinating and far-reaching theoretical visions, such as perfect lenses, invisibility cloaking, and enhanced optical nonlinearities. However, losses have become the major obstacle towards real world applications in the optical regime. Reducing the losses of opticalmetamaterials becomes necessary and extremely important. In this thesis, two approaches are taken to reduce the losses. One is to construct an indefinite medium. Indefinite media are materials where not all the principal components of the permittivity and permeability tensors have the same sign. They do not need the resonances to achieve negative permittivity, ε. So, the losses can be comparatively small. To obtain indefinite media, three-dimensional (3D) optical metallic nanowire media with different structures are designed. They are numerically demonstrated that they are homogeneous effective indefinite anisotropic media by showing that their dispersion relations are hyperbolic. Negative group refraction and pseudo focusing are observed. Another approach is to incorporate gain into metamaterial nanostructures. The nonlinearity of gain is included by a generic four-level atomic model. A computational scheme is presented, which allows for a self-consistent treatment of a dispersive metallic photonic metamaterial coupled to a gain material incorporated into the nanostructure using the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. The loss compensations with gain are done for various structures, from 2D simplified models to 3D realistic structures. Results show the losses of opticalmetamaterials can be effectively compensated by gain. The effective gain coefficient of the combined system can be much larger than the bulk gain counterpart, due to the strong local-field enhancement.

Based on the analogy between the Maxwell equations in complex metamaterials and the free-space Maxwell equations on the background of an arbitrary metric, transformation optics allows for the design of metamaterial devices using a geometrical perspective. This intuitive geometrical approach has already generated various novel applications within the elds of invisibility cloaking, electromagnetic beam manipulation, optical information storage, and imaging. Nevertheless, the framework of transformation optics is not limited to three-dimensional transformations and can be extended to four-dimensional metrics, which allow for the implementation of metrics that occur in general relativistic or cosmological models. This enables, for example, the implementation of black hole phenomena and space-time cloaks inside dielectrics with exotic material parameters. In this contribution, we present a time-dependent metamaterial device that mimics the cosmological redshift. Theoretically, the transformation-optical analogy requires an innite medium with a permittivity and a permeability that vary monotonically as a function of time. We demonstrate that the cosmological frequency shift can also be reproduced in more realistic devices, considering the fact that practical devices have a nite extent and bound material parameters. Indeed, our recent numerical results indicate that it is possible to alter the frequency of optical pulses in a medium with solely a modulated permittivity. Furthermore, it is shown that the overall frequency shift does not depend on the actual variation of the permittivity. The performance of a nite frequency converter is, for example, not aected by introducing the saw tooth evolution of the material parameters. Finally, we studied the eect of the introduction of realistic metamaterial losses and, surprisingly, we found a very high robustness with respect to this parameter. These results open up the possibility to fabricate this frequency converting device

We demonstrate optically isotropic filters in the terahertz (THz) frequency range using structurally anisotropic metamaterials. The proposed metamaterials with two-dimensional arrangements of anisotropic H-shaped apertures show polarization-independent transmission due to the combined effects of the dipole resonances of resonators and antennas. Our results may offer the potential for the design and realization of versatile THz devices and systems.

Based on helical metamaterials, a new broadband optical isolator with a triple-helix structure is proposed in this paper. The right-handed circularly polarized light can transmit through the isolator with its polarization unchanged. The reverse propagating light, which is caused by the reflection of the latter optical devices, is converted into left-handed circularly polarized light that is suppressed by the proposed isolator because of absorption. Our design has some unprecedented advantages such as broad frequency ranges and a compact structure; moreover, neither polarizers nor adscititious magnetic fields are required. Properties of the isolator are investigated using the finite-difference time-domain method, and this phenomenon is studied by the mechanism of helical antenna theory. PMID:26366900

The possibility of the effective use of metamaterials in acousto-optics is demonstrated. It is shown that photoelastic constants that determine a change in the dielectric constant of a heterogeneous medium under the action of a sound wave can significantly exceed the corresponding constants for conventional crystals. We have analysed the mechanisms of the dielectric constant variation in a heterogeneous medium consisting of nanoparticles in the form of ellipsoids and have found explicitly the values of the photoelastic constants. It is shown that the mechanism of the dielectric constant variation in a longitudinal sound wave is reduced to a change in the local concentration of nanoparticles in the bulk and in a transverse acoustic wave - to a local rotation of space-oriented nanoellipsoids. It is also shown that the use of metamedia with a nonuniform distribution of nanoparticles provides a unique opportunity for designing qualitatively new instruments and devices that cannot be produced on the basis of conventional crystals. It is noted that metamaterials open ample opportunities for creating devices of the IR region of the spectrum due to the absence of restrictions on the size of such media.

Development of all dielectric and plasmonic metamaterials with a tunable optical frequency magnetic response creates a need for new inspection techniques. We propose a method of measuring magnetic responses of such metamaterials within a wide range of optical frequencies with a single probe. A tapered fiber probe with a radially corrugated metal coating concentrates azimuthally polarized light in the near-field into a subwavelength spot the longitudinal magnetic field component which is much stronger than the perpendicular electric one. The active probe may be used in a future scanning near-field magnetic microscope for studies of magnetic responses of subwavelength elementary cells of metamaterials. PMID:21164936

Cancellation of optical diffraction is an intriguing phenomenon enabling optical fields to preserve their transverse intensity profiles upon propagation. In this work, we introduce a metamaterial design that exhibits this phenomenon for three-dimensional optical beams. As an advantage over other diffraction-compensating materials, our metamaterial is impedance-matched to glass, which suppresses optical reflection at the glass-metamaterial interface. The material is designed for beams formed by TM-polarized plane-wave components. We show, however, that unpolarized optical images with arbitrary shapes can be transferred over remarkable distances in the material without distortion. We foresee multiple applications of our results in integrated optics and optical imaging. PMID:27137594

Circular dichorism and optical activity have been achieved by chiral metamaterials in the optical spectrum, but for the case of negative index of refraction, remarkable achievements have not been obtained in this region so far. We employ nanoparticles to shift the resonant frequency of a chiral metamaterial based on twisted cross wires to optical domain. Our proposed structure provides giant optical activity, strong circular dichorism and also negative refractive index in the optical wavelengths. Optical activity in our structure has a rotary power similar to a gyrotropic crystal of quartz, but in a thickness which is four orders of magnitude smaller. The foundation of our method for realizing such an optical chiral metamaterial is based on creating a different coupling between longitudinal modes of localized surface plasmons for right and left circularly polarized incident waves.

Metamaterial nanostructures actuated by light give rise to a large optical nonlinearity. Plasmonic metamolecules on a flexible support structure cut from a dielectric membrane of nanoscale thickness are rearranged by optical illumination. This changes the optical properties of the strongly coupled plasmonic structure and therefore results in modulation of light with light. PMID:26619205

We present a review for the nonlinear nano-optics in quantum dots doped in a metamaterial heterostructure. The heterostructure is formed by depositing a metamaterial on a dielectric substrate and ensemble of noninteracting quantum dots are doped near the heterostructure interface. It is shown that there is enhancement of the second harmonic generation due to the surface plasmon polaritons field present at the interface.

We present a review for the nonlinear nano-optics in quantum dots doped in a metamaterial heterostructure. The heterostructure is formed by depositing a metamaterial on a dielectric substrate and ensemble of noninteracting quantum dots are doped near the heterostructure interface. It is shown that there is enhancement of the second harmonic generation due to the surface plasmon polaritons field present at the interface.

We investigate optical magnetism and optical activity in a simple planar metamolecule composed of double U-shaped metal split ring resonators (SRRs) twisted by 90° with respect to one another. Compared to a single SRR, the resonant energy levels are split and strong magnetic response can be observed due to inductive and conductive coupling. More interestingly, the nonchiral structures exhibit strong optical gyrotropy (1100°/λ) under oblique incidence, benefiting from the strong electromagnetic coupling. A chiral molecule model is proposed to shed light on the physical origin of optical activity. These artificial chiral metamaterials could be utilized to control the polarization of light and promise applications in enantiomer sensing-based medicine, biology, and drug development. PMID:27367063

One exemplary metamaterial is formed from a plurality of individual unit cells, at least a portion of which have a different permeability than others. The plurality of individual unit cells are arranged to provide a metamaterial having a gradient index along at least one axis. Such metamaterials can be used to form lenses, for example.

Artificially structured composite metamaterials consist of sub-wavelength sized structures that exhibit unusual electromagnetic properties not found in nature. Since the first experimental verification in 2000, metamaterials have drawn considerable attention because of their broad range of potential applications. One of the most attractive features of metamaterials is to obtain negative refraction, termed left-handed materials or negative-index metamaterials, over a limited frequency band. Negative-index metamaterials at near infrared wavelength are fabricated with circular, elliptical and rectangular holes penetrating through metal/dielectric/metal films. All three negative-index metamaterial structures exhibit similar figure of merit; however, the transmission is higher for the negative-index metamaterial with rectangular holes as a result of an improved impedance match with the substrate-superstrate (air-glass) combination. In general, the processing procedure to fabricate the fishnet structured negative-index metamaterials is to define the hole-size using a polymetric material, usually by lithographically defining polymer posts, followed by deposition of the constitutive materials and dissolution of the polymer (liftoff processing). This processing (fabrication of posts: multi-layer deposition: liftoff) often gives rise to significant sidewall-angle because materials accumulate on the tops of the posts that define the structure, each successive film deposition has a somewhat larger aperture on the bottom metamaterial film, giving rise to a nonzero sidewall-angle and to optical bianisotropy. Finally, we demonstrate a nanometer-scale, sub-picosecond metamaterial device capable of over terabit/second all-optical communication in the near infrared spectrum. We achieve a 600 fs device response by utilizing a regime of sub-picosecond carrier dynamics in amorphous silicon and ˜70% modulation in a path length of only 124 nm by exploiting the strong nonlinearities in

We present a theoretical analysis on optical spin-sensitive Zitterbewegung (ZB) in metamaterials. By developing some formulas about the dispersions and eigenstates of optical modes we show that spin-sensitive ZB can be obtained in a bianisotropic metamaterial with a proper coupling between the electric and magnetic responses. A close analogue of the developed analytical results with these of Dirac equation is proposed. Numerical simulation proves the existence of ZB on the refracted optical beam along a direction determined by the optical spin of incidence. Furthermore, we show that when the incident optical field is linearly polarized, although ZB on field intensity does not exist, the optical spin possesses an interesting spatial split and trembling phenomena. Significance of this investigation is discussed. PMID:27410542

Artificially engineered metamaterials have emerged with properties and functionalities previously unattainable in natural materials. The scientific breakthroughs made in this new class of electromagnetic materials are closely linked with progress in developing physics-driven design, novel fabrication and characterization methods. The intricate…

In the past decade, terahertz(THz) based optics and metamaterials have been extensively researched to create components and devices in the frequency range of 0.1 to 5 THz also known as 'THz gap'. Metamaterials, in particular, have realized concepts such as negative refraction, slow light and superlensing through artificially engineered media. The naturally available materials have very weak interaction of terahertz light. Therefore, the design of THz metamaterials to manipulate THz radiation is an important task towards furthering the usage of terahertz light for practical applications. The thesis involved the development of two lab facilities for fabrication and characterization. A state-of-the-art two photon lithography( TPL) system was developed which enables us to manufacture 3D structures with sub-diffraction limit resolution(280nm at 800 nm wavelength). The software was written to enable easy fabrication of multiple structures with different algorithms. For characterizing our metamaterial structures in the terahertz regime, a THz time-domain spectroscopy(THz-TDS) and imaging system was built. This transmission based spectrometer has a dynamic range of 50 dB at 0.5 THz and a bandwidth of about 2.5 THz. To demonstrate the application of these home-built facilities, the metamaterials in the THz regime were fabricated using TPL and UV lithography. To investigate conductive coupling effects in meta-atoms, a new design was proposed, fabricated and characterized. As an application of TPL, free standing polymer helices were fabricated and coated with silver electroless plating. These silver helical metamaterials have potential application as circular polarizers in the MIR and THz regimes. The aspect ratio effects of these helical metamaterials were also studied in order to improve their polarizing performance.

We experimentally demonstrated multiple Fano resonances in opticalmetamaterials. By combination of two different sized asymmetric-double-bar (ADB) structures, triple Fano resonance was observed in the near-infrared region. In addition to Fano resonance due to anti-phase modes in isolated ADB structures, an anti-phase mode due to coupling among different sized ADBs was observed. Dependence of characteristics of resonances on size difference was also investigated. At specific conditions of size difference, quality factors of three Fano resonances were improved compared with ADB metamaterials consisting of one kind of ADBs. The results will help to realize applications using metamaterial resonators with multiple functionalities and high performance. PMID:27137549

We show that effective gauge field for photons with polarization-split dispersion surfaces, being realized using uniaxial metamaterials, can be used for polarization control with unique opportunities. The metamaterials with the proposed gauge field correspond to a special choice of eigenpolarizations on the Poincaré sphere as pseudo-spins, in contrary to those from either conventional birefringent crystals or optical active media. It gives rise to all-angle polarization control and a generic route to manipulate photon trajectories or polarizations in the pseudo-spin domain. As demonstrations, we show beam splitting (birefringent polarizer), all-angle polarization control, unidirectional polarization filter, and interferometer as various polarization control devices in the pseudo-spin domain. We expect that more polarization-dependent devices can be designed under the same framework.

Following a recent theoretical suggestion and microwave experiments, we fabricate photonic metamaterials composed of pairs of twisted gold crosses using two successive electron-beam-lithography steps and intermediate planarization via a spin-on dielectric. The resulting two effective resonances of the coupled system lie in the 1-2 microm wavelength regime and exhibit pronounced circular dichroism, while the circular polarization conversion is very small. In between the two resonances, we find a fairly broad spectral regime with strong optical activity, i.e., with a pure rotation of incident linear polarization. The measured optical transmittance spectra agree well with theory. PMID:19684829

Optical chiral metamaterials have recently attracted considerable attention because they offer new and exciting opportunities for fundamental research and practical applications. Through pragmatic designs, the chiroptical response of chiral metamaterials can be several orders of magnitude higher than that of natural chiral materials. Meanwhile, the local chiral fields can be enhanced by plasmonic resonances to drive a wide range of physical and chemical processes in both linear and nonlinear regimes. In this review, we will discuss the fundamental principles of chiral metamaterials, various optical chiral metamaterials realized by different nanofabrication approaches, and the applications and future prospects of this emerging field. PMID:27606801

Diffraction-free propagation of light has been demonstrated in free space for Bessel-like beams and for arbitrary beams in specially designed photonic crystals and metamaterials. The phenomenon is called self-collimation in photonic crystals and canalization in metamaterials, as the approaches to obtaining the effect are different. In both cases, however, diffraction-free propagation of light is achieved by making the dispersion surface of the material at a given frequency flat. In photonic crystals this is done by tuning the unit-cell dimensions close to the band-gap regime, and in metamaterials by tuning a hyperbolic-type metamaterial towards its transition to an ordinary elliptical metamaterial. In this work, we propose an alternative way to suppress optical diffraction in a metamaterial by adjusting the anisotropy of the finite-sized three-dimensional metamolecules and the material’s spatial dispersion. The approach allows matching the wave impedance of the material to that of the surrounding medium in a wide range of incidence angles and thereby also suppressing optical reflection from the material’s surface.

We experimentally demonstrate efficient electro-optical control in an active nano-structured plasmonic metamaterial hybridised with a liquid-crystal cell. The hybridisation was achieved by simultaneously replacing the polarizer, transparent electrode and molecular alignment layer of the liquid-crystal cell with the metamaterial nano-structure. With the control signal of only 7 V we have achieved a fivefold hysteresis-free modulation of metamaterial transmission at the wavelength of 1.55 µm. PMID:23389148

Processing of photonic information usually relies on electronics. Aiming to avoid the conversion between photonic and electronic signals, modulation of light with light based on optical nonlinearity has become a major research field and coherent optical effects on the nanoscale are emerging as new means of handling and distributing signals. Here we demonstrate that in slabs of linear material of sub-wavelength thickness optical manifestations of birefringence and optical activity (linear and circular birefringence and dichroism) can be controlled by a wave coherent with the wave probing the polarization effect. We demonstrate this in proof-of-principle experiments for chiral and anisotropic microwave metamaterials, where we show that the large parameter space of polarization characteristics may be accessed at will by coherent control. Such control can be exerted at arbitrarily low intensities, thus arguably allowing for fast handling of electromagnetic signals without facing thermal management and energy challenges. PMID:25755071

Nematic liquid crystals possess large and versatile optical nonlinearities suitable for photonics applications spanning the femtoseconds to milliseconds time scales, and across a wide spectral window. We present a comprehensive review of the physical properties and mechanisms that underlie these multiple time scales nonlinearities, delving into individual molecular electronic responses as well as collective ordered-phase dynamical processes. Several exemplary theoretical formalisms and feasibility demonstrations of ultrafast all-optical transmission switching and tunable metamaterials and plasmonic photonic structures where the liquid crystal constituents play the critical role of enabling the processes are discussed. Emphasis is placed on all-optical processes, but we have also highlighted cases where electro-optical means could provide additional control, flexibility and enhancement possibility. We also point out how another phase of chiral nematic, namely, Blue-Phase liquid crystals could circumvent some of the limitations of nematic and present new possibilities.

Processing of photonic information usually relies on electronics. Aiming to avoid the conversion between photonic and electronic signals, modulation of light with light based on optical nonlinearity has become a major research field and coherent optical effects on the nanoscale are emerging as new means of handling and distributing signals. Here we demonstrate that in slabs of linear material of sub-wavelength thickness optical manifestations of birefringence and optical activity (linear and circular birefringence and dichroism) can be controlled by a wave coherent with the wave probing the polarization effect. We demonstrate this in proof-of-principle experiments for chiral and anisotropic microwave metamaterials, where we show that the large parameter space of polarization characteristics may be accessed at will by coherent control. Such control can be exerted at arbitrarily low intensities, thus arguably allowing for fast handling of electromagnetic signals without facing thermal management and energy challenges. PMID:25755071

Metamaterials offer unprecedented flexibility for manipulating the optical properties of matter, including the ability to access negative index, ultrahigh index and chiral optical properties. Recently, metamaterials with near-zero refractive index have attracted much attention. Light inside such materials experiences no spatial phase change and extremely large phase velocity, properties that can be applied for realizing directional emission, tunnelling waveguides, large-area single-mode devices and electromagnetic cloaks. However, at optical frequencies, the previously demonstrated zero- or negative-refractive-index metamaterials have required the use of metallic inclusions, leading to large ohmic loss, a serious impediment to device applications. Here, we experimentally demonstrate an impedance-matched zero-index metamaterial at optical frequencies based on purely dielectric constituents. Formed from stacked silicon-rod unit cells, the metamaterial has a nearly isotropic low-index response for transverse-magnetic polarized light, leading to angular selectivity of transmission and directive emission from quantum dots placed within the material.

The newly introduced metamaterial-based optical circuit, an analogue of electronic circuit, is becoming a forefront topic in the fields of electronics, optics, plasmonics, and metamaterials. However, metals, as the commonly used plasmonic elements in an optical circuit, suffer from large losses at the visible and infrared wavelengths. We propose here a low-loss, all-semiconductor metamaterial-based optical circuit board at the microscale by using interleaved intrinsic GaAs and doped GaAs, and present the detailed design process for various lumped optical circuit elements, including lumped optical inductors, optical capacitors, optical conductors, and optical insulators. By properly combining these optical circuit elements and arranging anisotropic optical connectors, we obtain a subwavelength optical filter, which can always hold band-stop filtering function for various polarization states of the incident electromagnetic wave. All-semiconductor optical circuits may provide a new opportunity in developing low-power and ultrafast components and devices for optical information processing.

DNA tethers guide the self-assembly of colloidal metal nanoparticles into three-dimensional opticalmetamaterials. The observation of epsilon-near-zero behaviour in nanoparticle-based materials indicates that bottom-up assembly may be a viable solution to current challenges in the manufacture of metamaterials.

Development of all-optical signal processing, eliminating the performance and cost penalties of optical-electrical-optical conversion, is important for continu,ing advances in Terabits/sec (Tb/s) communications.' Optical nonlinearities are generally weak, traditionally requiring long-path, large-area devicesl,2 or very high-Q, narrow-band resonator structures.3 Opticalmetamaterials offer unique capabilities for optical-optical interactions. Here we report 600 femtosecond (fs) all-optical modulation using a fIShnet (2D-perforated metallamorphous-Si (a-Si)/metal film stack) negative-index meta material with a structurally tunable broad-band response near 1.2 {micro}m. Over 20% modulation (experimentally limited) is achieved in a path length of only 116 nm by photo-excitation of carriers in the a-Si layer. This has the potential for Tb/s aU-optical communication and will lead to other novel, compact, tunable sub-picosecond (ps) photonic devices.

The following dissertation examines the tunability of two types of proof-of-concept devices centering around post-fabrication modification of the infrared optical response. The first device, created through the hybridization of the metamaterials and the phase-transition oxide vanadium dioxide (VO2), is probed using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. We demonstrate that, through application of voltage pulses to this initially uniform device, a gradient in the optical properties can be obtained. This macroscopic control mechanism enables persistent modification of the device, though the hysteretic nature of the VO2 insulator to metal transition (IMT), on spatial scales on the order of a few wavelengths of the probing light. In addition to effects from current-induced heating, we show that the optical response can also be modified through the use of an ionic gel to oxidize or reduce the vanadium ions in VO2, thereby driving its IMT. These measurements also demonstrate the potential for metamaterials as a means of probing metal-to-insulator transitions, allowing for enhanced optical probing of changes in VO2 properties due to electric fields from the ion gel. The second device we explored is a graphene based device used for examining the modification of graphene's plasmonic response in conjunction with the ferroelectric high-? dielectric lead zirconium titanate (PZT) employed as a gate dielectric. By using PZT, the carrier concentration, and therefore the optical properties of graphene, can be heavily modified with small back-gate voltages. Additionally, the use of a ferroelectric dielectric enables a form of memory in the device where transient voltage application leads to persistent changes in graphene properties. Examination of this device using scanning near-field optical microscopy allows us to determine the usefulness of similar devices in future plasmonic device.

A possible means of optical sensing, based on a porous hyperbolic material that is infiltrated by a fluid containing an analyte to be sensed, was theoretically investigated. The sensing mechanism relies on the observation that extraordinary plane waves propagate in the infiltrated hyperbolic material only in directions enclosed by a cone aligned with the optic axis of the infiltrated hyperbolic material. The angle this cone subtends to the plane perpendicular to the optic axis is θc. The sensitivity of θc to changes in the refractive index of the infiltrating fluid, namely nb, was explored; also considered were the permittivity parameters and porosity of the hyperbolic material, as well as the shape and size of its pores. Sensitivity was gauged by the derivative dθc/dnb. In parametric numerical studies, values of dθc/dnb in excess of 500 deg per refractive index unit were computed, depending upon the constitutive parameters of the porous hyperbolic material and infiltrating fluid and the nature of the porosity. In particular, it was observed that exceeding large values of dθc/dnb could be attained as the negative-valued eigenvalue of the infiltrated hyperbolic material approached zero.

Metamaterials have the potential to create optical devices with new and diverse functionalities based on novel wave phenomena. Most practical optical systems require that the device properties be tightly controlled over a broad wavelength range. However, opticalmetamaterials are inherently dispersive, which limits operational bandwidths and leads to high absorption losses. Here, we show that deep-subwavelength inclusions can controllably tailor the dispersive properties of an established metamaterial structure thereby producing a broadband low-loss optical device with a desired response. We experimentally verify this by optimizing an array of nano-notch inclusions, which perturb the mode patterns and strength of the primary and secondary fishnet nanostructure resonances and give an optically thin mid-wave-infrared filter with a broad transmissive pass-band and near-constant group delay. This work outlines a powerful new strategy for realizing a wide range of broadband optical devices that exploit the unique properties of metamaterials. PMID:23535875

Using metamaterial absorbers, we have shown that metallic layers in the absorbers do not necessarily constitute undesired resistive heating problem for photovoltaics. Tailoring the geometric skin depth of metals and employing the natural bulk absorbance characteristics of the semiconductors in those absorbers can enable the exchange of undesired resistive losses with the useful optical absorbance in the active semiconductors. Thus, Ohmic loss dominated metamaterial absorbers can be converted into photovoltaic near-perfect absorbers with the advantage of harvesting the full potential of light management offered by the metamaterial absorbers. Based on experimental permittivity data for indium gallium nitride, we have shown that between 75%–95% absorbance can be achieved in the semiconductor layers of the converted metamaterial absorbers. Besides other metamaterial and plasmonic devices, our results may also apply to photodectors and other metal or semiconductor based optical devices where resistive losses and power consumption are important pertaining to the device performance. PMID:24811322

Metamaterials offer opportunities to explore curved-spacetime scenarios which would otherwise be impractical or impossible to study. These opportunities arise from the formal analogy that exists between light propagation in vacuous curved spacetime and in a certain nonhomogeneous bianisotropic medium, called a Tamm medium. As the science and technology of nanostructured metamaterials continues its rapid development, the practical realization of Tamm mediums is edging ever closer. We considered two particular curved spacetimes associated with: (a) spinning cosmic strings, and (b) the Alcubierre drive. For both examples, a Tamm medium formulation was developed which is asymptotically identical to vacuum and is therefore amenable to physical realization. A study of ray trajectories for both Tamm mediums was undertaken, within the geometric optics regime. For the spinning cosmic string, it was observed that: (i) rays do not cross the string's boundary; (ii) evanescent waves are supported in regions of phase space that correspond to those regions of the string's spacetime wherein closed timelike curves may arise; and (iii) a non-spinning string is nearly invisible whereas a spinning string may be rather more visible. For the Alcubierre drive, it was observed that: (i) ray trajectories are highly sensitive to the magnitude and direction of the warp bubble's velocity, but less sensitive to the thickness of the transition zone between the warp bubble and its background; and (ii) the warp bubble acts as a focusing lens for rays which travel in the same direction as the bubble, especially at high speeds.

On the basis of calculations of multipole moments of meta-atoms forming a planar metamaterial, a new method is proposed for the quantitative determination of its optical and polarisation properties. The efficiency of the method is demonstrated by the example of a planar metamaterial consisting of H-shaped nanoparticles. (metamaterials)

We propose a permittivity-tunable metamaterial channel, which is composed of alternative layers of graphene and silica. Optical waves can pass through the metamaterial channel only if its permittivity is tuned to zero. Taking advantage of the permittivity tunable property of the metamaterial, a multi-functional optical device, which can act as a wavelength demultiplexer, switch, and optical splitter without changing the geometric parameters has been proposed and numerically investigated by using the Finite Element Method. Owing to the permittivity tunable property of graphene, the working wavelength of the multi-functional device can be flexibly controlled by tuning the gate voltage applied on the metamaterial. This tunable ultracompact multi-functional optical device may find potential applications in highly integrated photonic circuits.

A thorough theoretical study of the optical activity in planar chiral metamaterial (PCM) structures, made of both dielectric and metallic media, is conducted by the analysis of gammadion-shaped nanoparticle arrays. The general polarization properties are first analyzed from an effective-medium perspective, by analogy with natural optical activity, and then verified by rigorous numerical simulation, some of which are corroborated by previous experimental results. The numerical analysis suggests that giant polarization rotation (tens of degrees) may be achieved in the PCM structures with a thickness of only hundreds of nanometers. The artificial optical activity arises from circular birefringence induced by the structural chirality and is enhanced by the guided-mode or surface-plasmon resonances taking place in the structures. There are two polarization conversion types in the dielectric PCMs, whereas only one type in the metallic ones. Many intriguing features of the polarization property of PCMs are also revealed and explained: the polarization effect is reciprocal and vanishes in the symmetrically layered structures; the effect occurs only in the transmitted field, but not in the reflected field; and the polarization spectra of two enantiomeric PCM structures are mirror symmetric to each other. These remarkable properties pave the way for the PCMs to be used as polarization elements in new-generation integrated optical systems.

Due to limitations of conventional acoustic probes, full spatial field mapping (both internal and external wave amplitude and phase measurements) in acoustic metamaterials with deep subwavelength structures has not yet been demonstrated. Therefore, many fundamental wave propagation phenomena in acoustic metamaterials remain experimentally unexplored. In this work, we realized a miniature fiber optic acoustic point detector that is capable of omnidirectional detection of complex spatial acoustic fields in various metamaterial structures over a broadband spectrum. By using this probe, we experimentally characterized the wave-structure interactions in an anisotropic metamaterial waveguide. We further demonstrated that the spatial mapping of both internal and external acoustic fields of metamaterial structures can help obtain important wave propagation properties associated with material dispersion and field confinement, and develop an in-depth understanding of the waveguiding physics in metamaterials. The insights and inspirations gained from our experimental studies are valuable not only for the advancement of fundamental metamaterial wave physics but also for the development of functional metamaterial devices such as acoustic lenses, waveguides, and sensors.

Since their introduction by Mercedes Benz in the late 1990s, W-band radars operating at 76-77 GHz have found their way into more and more passenger cars. These automotive radars are typically used in adaptive cruise control, pre-collision sensing, and other driver assistance systems. While these systems are usually only about the size of two stacked cigarette packs, system size, and weight remains a concern for many automotive manufacturers. In this dissertation, I discuss how artificially structured metamaterials can be used to improve lens-based automotive radar systems. Metamaterials allow the fabrication of smaller and lighter systems, while still meeting the frequency, high gain, and cost requirements of this application. In particular, I focus on the development of planar artificial dielectric lenses suitable for use in place of the injection-molded lenses now used in many automotive radar systems. I begin by using analytic and numerical ray-tracing to compare the performance of planar metamaterial GRIN lenses to equivalent aspheric refractive lenses. I do this to determine whether metamaterials are best employed in GRIN or refractive automotive radar lenses. Through this study I find that planar GRIN lenses with the large refractive index ranges enabled by metamaterials have approximately optically equivalent performance to equivalent refractive lenses for fields of view approaching +/-20°. I also find that the uniaxial nature of most planar metamaterials does not negatively impact planar GRIN lens performance. I then turn my attention to implementing these planar GRIN lenses at W-band automotive radar frequencies. I begin by designing uniform sheets of W-band electrically-coupled LC resonator-based metamaterials. These metamaterial samples were fabricated by the Jokerst research group on glass and liquid crystal polymer (LCP) substrates and tested at Toyota Research Institute- North America (TRI-NA). When characterized at W-band frequencies, these

We present the design of an invisible metamaterial fibre operating at optical frequencies, which could be fabricated by adapting existing fibre drawing techniques. The invisibility is realised by matching the refractive index of the metamaterial fibre with the surroundings. We present a general recipe for the fabrication of such fibres, and numerically characterise a specific example using hexagonally arranged silver nanowires in a silica background. We find that invisibility is highly sensitive to details of the metamaterial boundary, a problem that is likely to affect most invisibility and cloaking schemes. PMID:20721197

We use planar metamaterial resonators to enhance, by more than two orders of magnitude, the optical second harmonic generation, in the near infrared, obtained from intersubband transitions in III-Nitride heterostructures. The improvement arises from two factors: employing an asymmetric double quantum well design and aligning the resonators’ cross-polarized resonances with the intersubband transition energies. The resulting nonlinear metamaterial operates at wavelengths where single photon detection is available, and represents a new class of sources for quantum photonics related phenomena.

The possibility is shown and conditions are found for the realization of the type I or II epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) metamaterials based on a multilayer metal-dielectric structure. It is found that, for both propagating and evanescent extraordinary waves, diffraction-free energy transportation occurs with low losses within narrow channels inside the type I ENZ metamaterial on the basis of such a structure. The research presents the possibility of forming the type II ENZ metamaterial inside the two kinds of propagating light waves for which the amplitude decays from the boundary and the phase fronts move away from and towards the boundary of the metamaterial, respectively. The interaction between Gaussian light beams and metamaterials with extremal characteristics is theoretically investigated. The prospect of the practical application of these media is considered.

We demonstrate a concept for second-order nonlinear metamaterials that can be obtained from non-metallic centrosymmetric constituents with inherently low optical absorption. The concept is based on iterative atomic-layer deposition of three different materials, A = Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}, B = TiO{sub 2}, and C = HfO{sub 2}. The centrosymmetry of the resulting ABC stack is broken since the ABC and the inverted CBA sequences are not equivalent—a necessary condition for non-zero second-order nonlinearity. In our experiments, we find that the bulk second-order nonlinear susceptibility depends on the density of interfaces, leading to a nonlinear susceptibility of 0.26 pm/V at a wavelength of 800 nm. ABC-type nanolaminates can be deposited on virtually any substrate and offer a promising route towards engineering of second-order optical nonlinearities at both infrared and visible wavelengths.

We have succeeded in aligning gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) in three-dimensions using tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) in order to realize new optical properties. TMV is a tube-shaped plant virus about 300 nm in length with an outer- and inner-diameter of 18 nm and 4 nm. We genetically fused material-binding peptides that can promote metal crystallization, namely a gold-binding peptide (GBP) and a titanium-binding peptide (TBP), to the outer-surface of TMV. By reducing potassium chloroaurate with sodium borohydride in the presence of the engineered viruses in 5% acetic acid solution, Au NPs were deposited on the outer-surface of the viruses. Using TBP-fused TMV, NPs of 5 nm were obtained, with a standard deviation smaller than those deposited on wild-type TMV. The diameter of the NPs on GBP-fused TMV was 10 nm. These results indicate that genetically-modified TMVs are promising templates for the construction of opticalmetamaterials.

A chiral optical negative-index metamaterial design of doubly periodic construction for the near-infrared spectrum is presented. The chirality is realized by incorporating sub-wavelength planar silver-aluminasilver resonators and arranging them in a left-handed helical (i.e., stair-step) configuration as a wave propagates through the metamaterial. An effective material parameter retrieval procedure is developed for general bi-isotropic metamaterials. A numerical design example is presented and the retrieved effective material parameters exhibiting a negative index of refraction are provided. PMID:18679454

The acoustic non-diffracting Airy beam as its optical counterpart has unique features of self-bending and self-healing. The complexity of most current designs handicaps its applications. A simple design of an acoustic source capable of generating multi-frequency and broad-band acoustic Airy beam has been theoretically demonstrated by numerical simulations. In the design, a piston transducer is corrugated to induce spatial phase variation for transducing the Airy function. The piston's surface is grooved in a pattern that the width of each groove corresponds to the half wavelength of Airy function. The resulted frequency characteristics and its dependence on the size of the piston source are also discussed. This simple design may promote the wide applications of acoustic Airy beam particularly in the field of medical ultrasound.

Tailoring optical properties of artificial metamaterials, whose optical properties go beyond the limitations of conventional and naturally occurring materials, is of importance in fundamental research and has led to many important applications such as security imaging, invisible cloak, negative refraction, ultrasensitive sensing, and transformable and switchable optics. Herein, by precisely controlling the size, symmetry, and topology of alphabetical metamaterials with U, S, Y, H, U-bar, and V shapes, we have obtained highly tunable optical response covering visible-to-infrared (vis-NIR) optical frequency. In addition, we show a detailed study on the physical origin of resonance modes, plasmonic coupling, the dispersion of resonance modes, and the possibility of negative refraction. We have found that all the electronic and magnetic modes follow the dispersion of surface plasmon polaritons; thus, essentially they are electronic- and magnetic-surface-plasmon-polaritons-like (ESPP-like and MSPP-like) modes resulted from diffraction coupling between localized surface plasmon and freely propagating light. On the basis of the fill factor and formula of magnetism permeability, we predict that the alphabetical metamaterials should show the negative refraction capability in visible optical frequency. Furthermore, we have demonstrated the specific ultrasensitive surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) sensing of monolayer molecules and femtomolar food contaminants by tuning their resonance to match the laser wavelength, or by tuning the laser wavelength to match the plasmon resonance of metamaterials. Our tunable alphabetical metamaterials provide a generic platform to study the electromagnetic properties of metamaterials and explore the novel applications in optical frequency. PMID:24670107

We present the design, realization, and characterization of optical strong light–matter coupling between intersubband transitions within a semiconductor heterostructures and planar metamaterials in the near-infrared spectral range. The strong light–matter coupling entity consists of a III-nitride intersubband superlattice heterostructure, providing a two-level system with a transition energy of ~0.8 eV (λ ~1.55 μm) and a planar “dogbone” metamaterial structure. Furthermore, as the bare metamaterial resonance frequency is varied across the intersubband resonance, a clear anticrossing behavior is observed in the frequency domain. We found that this strongly coupled entity could enable the realization of electrically tunable optical filters, a newmore » class of efficient nonlinear optical materials, or intersubband-based light-emitting diodes.« less

We present the design, realization, and characterization of optical strong light–matter coupling between intersubband transitions within a semiconductor heterostructures and planar metamaterials in the near-infrared spectral range. The strong light–matter coupling entity consists of a III-nitride intersubband superlattice heterostructure, providing a two-level system with a transition energy of ~0.8 eV (λ ~1.55 μm) and a planar “dogbone” metamaterial structure. Furthermore, as the bare metamaterial resonance frequency is varied across the intersubband resonance, a clear anticrossing behavior is observed in the frequency domain. We found that this strongly coupled entity could enable the realization of electrically tunable optical filters, a new class of efficient nonlinear optical materials, or intersubband-based light-emitting diodes.

Nonlinear photonic nanostructures that allow efficient all-optical switching are considered to be a prospective platform for novel building blocks in photonics. We performed time-resolved measurements of the photoinduced transient third-order nonlinear optical response of a fishnet metamaterial. The mutual influence of two non-collinear pulses exciting the magnetic resonance of the metamaterial was probed by detecting the third-harmonic radiation as a function of the time delay between pulses. Subpicosecond-scale dynamics of the metamaterial's χ((3)) was observed; the all-optical χ((3)) modulation depth was found to be approximately 70% at a pump fluence of only 20 μJ/cm(2). PMID:27335268

We experimentally demonstrate a micro-electro-mechanically tunable metamaterial with enhanced electro-optical performance by increasing the number of movable cantilevers in the symmetrical split ring resonator metamaterial unit cell. Simulations were carried out to understand the interaction of the incident terahertz radiation with out-of-plane deforming metamaterial resonator. In order to improve the overall device performance, the number of released cantilever in a unit cell was increased from one to two, and it was seen that the tunable range was doubled and the switching contrast improved by a factor of around five at 0.7 THz. This simple design approach can be adopted for a wide range of high performance electro-optical devices such as continuously tunable filters, modulators, and electro-optic switches to enable future photonic circuit applications.

An Airy beam is a non-diffractive wave which propagates along a ballistic trajectory without any external force. Although it is impossible to implement ideal Airy beams because they carry infinite power, so-called finite Airy beams can be achieved by tailoring infinite side lobes with an aperture function and they have similar propagating characteristics with those of ideal Airy beams. The finite Airy beam can be optically generated by several ways: the optical Fourier transform system with imposing cubic phase to a broad Gaussian beam, nonlinear generation of Airy beams, curved plasma channel generation, and electron beam generation. In this presentation, a holographic generation of the finite Airy beams will be discussed. The finite Airy beams can be generated in virtue of holographic technique by `reading' a hologram which is recorded by the interference between a finite Airy beam generated by the optical Fourier transform and a reference plane wave. Moreover, this method can exploit the unique features of holography itself such as successful reconstruction with the imperfect incidence of reference beam, reconstruction of phase-conjugated signal beam, and multiplexing, which can shed more light on the characteristics of finite Airy beams. This method has an advantage in that once holograms are recorded in the photopolymer, a bulky optics such as the SLM and lenses are not necessary to generate Airy beams. In addition, multiple Airy beams can be stored and reconstructed simultaneously or individually.

We present an approach for extremely fast, wafer-scale fabrication of chiral starfish metamaterials based on electron beam- and on-edge lithography. A millimeter sized array of both the planar chiral and the true 3D chiral starfish is realized, and their chiroptical performances are compared by circular dichroism measurements. We find optical activity in the visible and near-infrared spectral range, where the 3D starfish clearly outperforms the planar design by almost 2 orders of magnitude, though fabrication efforts are only moderately increased. The presented approach is capable of bridging the gap between high performance optical chiral metamaterials and industrial production by nanoimprint technology.

A palladium (Pd)-based opticalmetamaterial has been designed, fabricated and characterized for its application in hydrogen sensing. The metamaterial can replace Pd thin films in optical transmission schemes for sensing with performances far superior to those of conventional sensors. This artificial material consists of a palladium-alumina metamaterial fabricated using inexpensive and industrial-friendly bottom-up techniques. During the exposure to hydrogen, the system exhibits anomalous optical absorption when compared to the well-known response of Pd thin films, this phenomenon being the key factor for the sensor sensitivity. The exposure to hydrogen produces a large variation in the light transmission through the metamembrane (more than 30% with 4% in volume hydrogen-nitrogen gas mixture at room temperature and atmospheric pressure), thus avoiding the need for sophisticated optical detection systems. An optical homogenization model is proposed to explain the metamaterial response. These results contribute to the development of reliable and low-cost hydrogen sensors with potential applications in the hydrogen economy and industrial processes to name a few, and also open the door to optically study the hydrogen diffusion processes in Pd nanostructures.

A palladium (Pd)-based opticalmetamaterial has been designed, fabricated and characterized for its application in hydrogen sensing. The metamaterial can replace Pd thin films in optical transmission schemes for sensing with performances far superior to those of conventional sensors. This artificial material consists of a palladium-alumina metamaterial fabricated using inexpensive and industrial-friendly bottom-up techniques. During the exposure to hydrogen, the system exhibits anomalous optical absorption when compared to the well-known response of Pd thin films, this phenomenon being the key factor for the sensor sensitivity. The exposure to hydrogen produces a large variation in the light transmission through the metamembrane (more than 30% with 4% in volume hydrogen-nitrogen gas mixture at room temperature and atmospheric pressure), thus avoiding the need for sophisticated optical detection systems. An optical homogenization model is proposed to explain the metamaterial response. These results contribute to the development of reliable and low-cost hydrogen sensors with potential applications in the hydrogen economy and industrial processes to name a few, and also open the door to optically study the hydrogen diffusion processes in Pd nanostructures. PMID:27003717

Opto-electronic coupling of plasmonic nano-antennas in the near infrared water window in vitro and in vivo is of growing interest for imaging contrast agents, spectroscopic labels and rulers, biosensing, drug-delivery, and optoplasmonic ablation. Metamaterials composed of nanoplasmonic meta-atoms offer improved figures of merit in many applications across a broader spectral window. Discrete and coupled dipole approximations effectively describe localized and coupled resonance modes in nanoplasmonic metamaterials. From numeric and experimental results have emerged four design principles to guide fabrication and implementation of metamaterials in bio-related devices and systems. Resonance intensity and sensitivity are enhanced by surface-to-mass of meta-atoms and lattice constant. Fano resonant coupling is dependent on meta-atom polarizability and lattice geometry. Internal reflection in plasmonic metaatom- containing polymer films enhances dissipation rate. Dimensions of self-assembled meta-atoms depend on balancing electrochemical and surface forces. Examples of these principles from our lab compare computation with images and spectra from ordered metal-ceramic and polymeric nanocomposite metamaterials for bio/opto theranostic applications. These principles speed design and description of new architectures for nanoplasmonic metamaterials that show promise for bioapplications.

We generate perfect optical vortex (POV) beams, whose intensity distribution is independent of the order, and scatter them through a rough surface. We show that the size of produced speckles is independent of the order of the POV and their Fourier transform gives the random non-diffracting fields. The invariant size of speckles over the free space propagation verifies their non-diffracting or non-diverging nature. The size of speckles can be easily controlled by changing the axicon parameter, used to generate the Bessel-Gauss beams whose Fourier transform provides the POV. These results may be useful in applications of POV for authentication in cryptography.

A metamaterial perfect absorber consisting of a tri-layer (Al/ZnS/Al) metal-dielectric-metal system with top aluminium nano-disks was fabricated by laser-interference lithography and lift-off processing. The metamaterial absorber had peak resonant absorbance at 1090 nm and showed nonlinear absorption for 600ps laser pulses at 1064 nm wavelength. A nonlinear saturation of reflectance was measured to be dependent on the average laser power incident and not the peak laser intensity. The nonlinear behaviour is shown to arise from the heating due to the absorbed radiation and photo-thermal changes in the dielectric properties of aluminium. The metamaterial absorber is seen to be damage resistant at large laser intensities of 25 MW/cm2.

A metamaterial perfect absorber consisting of a tri-layer (Al/ZnS/Al) metal-dielectric-metal system with top aluminium nano-disks was fabricated by laser-interference lithography and lift-off processing. The metamaterial absorber had peak resonant absorbance at 1090 nm and showed nonlinear absorption for 600ps laser pulses at 1064 nm wavelength. A nonlinear saturation of reflectance was measured to be dependent on the average laser power incident and not the peak laser intensity. The nonlinear behaviour is shown to arise from the heating due to the absorbed radiation and photo-thermal changes in the dielectric properties of aluminium. The metamaterial absorber is seen to be damage resistant at large laser intensities of 25 MW/cm{sup 2}.

Synergistic integration of electromagnetic (EM) and mechanical properties of metamaterials, a concept known as smart metamaterials, promises new applications across the spectrum, from flexible waveguides to shape-conforming cloaks. These applications became possible thanks to smart transformation optics (STO), a design methodology that utilizes coordinate transformations to control both EM wave propagation and mechanical deformation of the device. Here, we demonstrate several STO devices based on extremely auxetic (Poisson ratio −1) elasto-electromagnetic metamaterials, both of which exhibit enormous flexibility and sustain efficient operation upon a wide range of deformations. Spatial maps of microwave electric fields across these devices confirm our ability to deform carpet cloaks, bent waveguides, and potentially other quasi-conformal TO-based devices operating at 7 ~ 8 GHz. These devices are each fabricated from a single sheet of initially uniform (double-periodic) square-lattice metamaterial, which acquires the necessary distribution of effective permittivity entirely from the mechanical deformation of its boundary. By integrating transformation optics and continuum mechanics theory, we provide analytical derivations for the design of STO devices. Additionally, we clarify an important point relating to two-dimensional STO devices: the difference between plane stress and plane strain assumptions, which lead to elastic metamaterials with Poisson ratio −1 and −∞, respectively. PMID:24522287

Synergistic integration of electromagnetic (EM) and mechanical properties of metamaterials, a concept known as smart metamaterials, promises new applications across the spectrum, from flexible waveguides to shape-conforming cloaks. These applications became possible thanks to smart transformation optics (STO), a design methodology that utilizes coordinate transformations to control both EM wave propagation and mechanical deformation of the device. Here, we demonstrate several STO devices based on extremely auxetic (Poisson ratio -1) elasto-electromagnetic metamaterials, both of which exhibit enormous flexibility and sustain efficient operation upon a wide range of deformations. Spatial maps of microwave electric fields across these devices confirm our ability to deform carpet cloaks, bent waveguides, and potentially other quasi-conformal TO-based devices operating at 7 ~ 8 GHz. These devices are each fabricated from a single sheet of initially uniform (double-periodic) square-lattice metamaterial, which acquires the necessary distribution of effective permittivity entirely from the mechanical deformation of its boundary. By integrating transformation optics and continuum mechanics theory, we provide analytical derivations for the design of STO devices. Additionally, we clarify an important point relating to two-dimensional STO devices: the difference between plane stress and plane strain assumptions, which lead to elastic metamaterials with Poisson ratio -1 and -∞, respectively. PMID:24522287

In the present work, we theoretically study a 2D photonic crystal (PC) comprised by double negative (DNG) metamaterial cylinders, showing that such a system presents a superior light-matter interaction when compared with their single negative (SNG) plasmonic PC counterparts, suggesting a route to enhance the performance of sensors and photovoltaic cells. On the other hand, we have observed that depending on the frequency, the mode symmetry resembles either the case of SNG electric (SNG-E) or SNG magnetic (SNG-M) PC, suggesting that either the electric or magnetic character of the DNG metamaterial dominates in each case.

Coupled split-ring-resonator metamaterials have previously been shown to exhibit large coupling effects, which are a prerequisite for obtaining large effective optical activity. By a suitable lateral arrangement of these building blocks, we completely eliminate linear birefringence and obtain pure optical activity and connected circular optical dichroism. Experiments around a 100 THz frequency and corresponding modeling are in good agreement. Rotation angles of about 30 degrees for 205 nm sample thickness are derived. PMID:20479819

Epsilon-Near-Zero materials exhibit a transition in the real part of the dielectric permittivity from positive to negative value as a function of wavelength. Here we study metal-dielectric layered metamaterials in the homogenised regime (each layer has strongly subwavelength thickness) with zero real part of the permittivity in the near-infrared region. By optically pumping the metamaterial we experimentally show that close to the Epsilon-Near-Zero (ENZ) wavelength the permittivity exhibits a marked transition from metallic (negative permittivity) to dielectric (positive permittivity) as a function of the optical power. Remarkably, this transition is linear as a function of pump power and occurs on time scales of the order of the 100 fs pump pulse that need not be tuned to a specific wavelength. The linearity of the permittivity increase allows us to express the response of the metamaterial in terms of a standard third order optical nonlinearity: this shows a clear inversion of the roles of the real and imaginary parts in crossing the ENZ wavelength, further supporting an optically induced change in the physical behaviour of the metamaterial. PMID:27292270

We describe how physical vapor deposition coupled with micelle-nanolithography-seeded substrates permits the growth of metamaterials with 3D structural and material control at the nanoscale. Novel plasmonic hybrid structures with tuned optical response from the UV to the near IR are demonstrated.

Epsilon-Near-Zero materials exhibit a transition in the real part of the dielectric permittivity from positive to negative value as a function of wavelength. Here we study metal-dielectric layered metamaterials in the homogenised regime (each layer has strongly subwavelength thickness) with zero real part of the permittivity in the near-infrared region. By optically pumping the metamaterial we experimentally show that close to the Epsilon-Near-Zero (ENZ) wavelength the permittivity exhibits a marked transition from metallic (negative permittivity) to dielectric (positive permittivity) as a function of the optical power. Remarkably, this transition is linear as a function of pump power and occurs on time scales of the order of the 100 fs pump pulse that need not be tuned to a specific wavelength. The linearity of the permittivity increase allows us to express the response of the metamaterial in terms of a standard third order optical nonlinearity: this shows a clear inversion of the roles of the real and imaginary parts in crossing the ENZ wavelength, further supporting an optically induced change in the physical behaviour of the metamaterial.

Epsilon-Near-Zero materials exhibit a transition in the real part of the dielectric permittivity from positive to negative value as a function of wavelength. Here we study metal-dielectric layered metamaterials in the homogenised regime (each layer has strongly subwavelength thickness) with zero real part of the permittivity in the near-infrared region. By optically pumping the metamaterial we experimentally show that close to the Epsilon-Near-Zero (ENZ) wavelength the permittivity exhibits a marked transition from metallic (negative permittivity) to dielectric (positive permittivity) as a function of the optical power. Remarkably, this transition is linear as a function of pump power and occurs on time scales of the order of the 100 fs pump pulse that need not be tuned to a specific wavelength. The linearity of the permittivity increase allows us to express the response of the metamaterial in terms of a standard third order optical nonlinearity: this shows a clear inversion of the roles of the real and imaginary parts in crossing the ENZ wavelength, further supporting an optically induced change in the physical behaviour of the metamaterial. PMID:27292270

The transformation optics was introduced by J. Pendry and U. Leonhardt in 2006 [1,2]. In this method an initial space is transformed into a new space and this transformed space can be materialized by a material, which the electromagnetic parameters can be deduced from the metric of the transformed space. In the general case the electromagnetic parameters are anisotropic tensors. At microwave frequencies these materials can be realized using classical metamaterials like SRR form J. Pendry or ELC from D. Smith [3]. At infrared wavelengths this realization is a challenge because the dimensions of the metamaterials are much smaller than the wavelength and become nanometric. Then the design of these metamaterials must be simplified and original methods must be developed to allow the realization of these metamaterials with controlled electromagnetic properties. In this paper we describe the realization of a multilayer metamaterial working at infrared wavelength, which the permittivity and the permeability can be adjusted separately. We give some examples of realized multilayer materials operating around 150THz, with a comparison between the results of full wave simulations of these materials and their characterizations using a Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer.

We report here a design method that is used to determine the initial shapes of elasto-electromagnetic metamaterial blocks with respect to the given shape of a hiding object when these blocks are applied to the problem of carpet cloaking. Starting from the inhomogeneous permittivity distribution of a cloak, derived using transformation optics, we use an inverse process to design the initial shape of a uniform permittivity material for an arbitrary value of Poisson's ratio in the range from -1 to 0.5. Then, by elastic compression of the initially uniform metamaterial, we obtain the inhomogeneous permittivity distribution that is required for cloaking. Our design method is then experimentally verified by measurements of the electric field profiles in smart metamaterial cloaks.

We present a metamaterial design based on a binary alloy of gold nanoparticles and virus capsids (protein nanoparticles) which possesses metamaterial functionalities in the optical regime. Such binary alloys have already been realized in the laboratory by means of DNA-programmed crystallization of metallic nanoparticles and virus capsids with suitable DNA linkers. The resulting binary alloy has a NaTl-lattice symmetry and operates as Mie resonance-based metamaterial thanks to the extremely high values of the electric permittivity of the virus capsids. By employing an effective-medium theory and rigorous electrodynamic calculations we identify regions of photo-induced magnetic activity stemming from the Mie resonances of the virus capsids. The magnetic activity of the virus particles accompanied by the ordinary electric activity of the gold nanoparticles results in spectral regions of negative refractive index which can be tuned to a desired spectral window by varying the concentration of the RNA within the virus capsids.

Multi-spectral imaging systems typically require the cumbersome integration of disparate filtering materials and detectors in order to operate simultaneously in multiple spectral regions. Each distinct waveband must be detected at different spatial locations on a single chip or by separate chips optimised for each band. Here, we report on a single component that optically multiplexes visible, Mid Infrared (4.5 μm) and Terahertz (126 μm) radiation thereby maximising the spectral information density. We hybridise plasmonic and metamaterial structures to form a device capable of simultaneously filtering 15 visible wavelengths and absorbing Mid Infrared and Terahertz. Our synthetic multi-spectral component could be integrated with silicon complementary metal-oxide semiconductor technology where Si photodiodes are available to detect the visible radiation and micro-bolometers available to detect the Infrared/Terahertz and render an inexpensive, mass-producible camera capable of forming coaxial visible, Infrared and Terahertz images. PMID:26907004

We describe a time-domain spectroscopy system in the thermal infrared used for complete transmission and reflection characterization of metamaterials in amplitude and phase. The system uses a triple-output near-infrared ultrafast fiber laser, phase-locked difference frequency generation and phase-matched electro-optic sampling. We will present measurements of several metamaterials designs.

Nonlinear photonic nanostructures that allow efficient all-optical switching are considered to be a prospective platform for novel building blocks in photonics. We performed time-resolved measurements of the photoinduced transient third-order nonlinear optical response of a fishnet metamaterial. The mutual influence of two non-collinear pulses exciting the magnetic resonance of the metamaterial was probed by detecting the third-harmonic radiation as a function of the time delay between pulses. Subpicosecond-scale dynamics of the metamaterial’s χ(3) was observed; the all-optical χ(3) modulation depth was found to be approximately 70% at a pump fluence of only 20 μJ/cm2. PMID:27335268

Nonlinear photonic nanostructures that allow efficient all-optical switching are considered to be a prospective platform for novel building blocks in photonics. We performed time-resolved measurements of the photoinduced transient third-order nonlinear optical response of a fishnet metamaterial. The mutual influence of two non-collinear pulses exciting the magnetic resonance of the metamaterial was probed by detecting the third-harmonic radiation as a function of the time delay between pulses. Subpicosecond-scale dynamics of the metamaterial’s χ(3) was observed; the all-optical χ(3) modulation depth was found to be approximately 70% at a pump fluence of only 20 μJ/cm2.

The study of advanced artificial electromagnetic materials, known as metamaterials, provides a link from material science to theoretical and applied electrodynamics, as well as to electrical engineering. Being initially intended mainly to achieve negative refraction, the concept of metamaterials quickly covered a much broader range of applications, from microwaves to optics and even acoustics. In particular, nonlinear metamaterials established a new research direction giving rise to fruitful ideas for tunable and active artificial materials. Here we introduce the concept of magnetoelastic metamaterials, where a new type of nonlinear response emerges from mutual interaction. This is achieved by providing a mechanical degree of freedom so that the electromagnetic interaction in the metamaterial lattice is coupled to elastic interaction. This enables the electromagnetically induced forces to change the metamaterial structure, dynamically tuning its effective properties. This concept leads to a new generation of metamaterials, and can be compared to such fundamental concepts of modern physics as optomechanics of photonic structures or magnetoelasticity in magnetic materials. PMID:22081080

Just as the topology of the Fermi surface defines the properties of the free electrons in metals and semiconductors, the geometry of the iso-frequency surface in the phase space of the propagating electromagnetic waves, determines the optical properties of the corresponding optical materials. Furthermore, in the direct analog to the Lifshitz transition in condensed matter physics, a change in the topology of iso-frequency surface has a dramatic effect on the emission, propagation and scattering of the electromagnetic waves. Here, we uncover a new class of such optical topological transitions in metamaterials, induced by the non-locality of the electromagnetic response inherent to these composites.

Just as the topology of the Fermi surface defines the properties of the free electrons in metals and semiconductors, the geometry of the iso-frequency surface in the phase space of the propagating electromagnetic waves, determines the optical properties of the corresponding optical materials. Furthermore, in the direct analog to the Lifshitz transition in condensed matter physics, a change in the topology of iso-frequency surface has a dramatic effect on the emission, propagation and scattering of the electromagnetic waves. Here, we uncover a new class of such optical topological transitions in metamaterials, induced by the non-locality of the electromagnetic response inherent to these composites. PMID:26670600

Just as the topology of the Fermi surface defines the properties of the free electrons in metals and semiconductors, the geometry of the iso-frequency surface in the phase space of the propagating electromagnetic waves, determines the optical properties of the corresponding optical materials. Furthermore, in the direct analog to the Lifshitz transition in condensed matter physics, a change in the topology of iso-frequency surface has a dramatic effect on the emission, propagation and scattering of the electromagnetic waves. Here, we uncover a new class of such optical topological transitions in metamaterials, induced by the non-locality of the electromagnetic response inherent to these composites. PMID:26670600

For homogeneous NPVM (negative phase--velocity mediums) [V. G. Veselago, Soviet Physics - Uspekhi 10 (1968) 509; T. G. Mackay, A. Lakhtakia, Phys. Rev. E 69 (2004) 026602] anomalous effects such as negative refraction, light pressure, Doppler shift, Cherenkov-Vavilov radiation, Goos-Hanchen effect have been discovered in different frequency ranges. In this presentation the optical circular polarized effect is calculated for inhomogeneous mediums (optical Magnus effect) and it is shown that it is anomalous in NPVM with respect to ``right-handed'' materials. The proposed metamaterials fabricated from glass coated amorphous ferromagnetic Co-Fe-Cr-B-Si microwires are shown to exhibit a negative refractive index for electromagnetic waves over scale of GHz frequencies [A.V. Ivanov, A.N. Shalygin, A.V. Vedyayev, V.A. Ivanov, JETP Letters 85 (2007) 565]. The magnetostatic interaction between microwires has been taken into account. The phase and group velocities in proposed metamaterial have been calculated. The ratio of thereof depends monotonically on the size of the microwires. Optical properties of such metamaterials are tunable by an external magnetic field and mechanical stress.

We report here a design method for a 3 dimensional (3D) isotropic transformation optical device using smart transformation optics. Inspired by solid mechanics, smart transformation optics regards a transformation optical medium as an elastic solid and deformations as coordinate transformations. Further developing from our previous work on 2D smart transformation optics, we introduce a method of 3D smart transformation optics to design 3D transformation optical devices by maintaining isotropic materials properties for all types of polarizations imposing free or nearly free boundary conditions. Due to the material isotropy, it is possible to fabricate such devices with structural metamaterials made purely of common dielectric materials. In conclusion, the practical importance of the method reported here lies in the fact that it enables us to fabricate, without difficulty, arbitrarily shaped 3D devices with existing 3D printing technology. PMID:26368165

Based on the facts that chiral molecules response differently to left- and right-handed circular polarized light, chiroptical effects are widely employed for determining structure chirality, detecting enantiomeric excess, or controlling chemical reactions of molecules. Compared to those in natural materials, chiroptical behaviors can be significantly amplified in chiral plasmonic metamaterials due to the concentrated local fields in the structure. The on-going research towards giant chiroptical effects in metamaterial generally focus on optimizing the field-enhancement effects. However, the observed chiroptical effects in metamaterials rely on more complicated factors and various possibilities towards giant chiroptical effects remains unexplored. Here we study the optical-active second harmonic generation (SHG) behaviors in a pair of planar sawtooth gratings with mirror-imaged patterns. Significant multipolar effects were observed in the polarization-dependent SHG curves. We show that the chirality of the nanostructure not only give rise to nonzero chiral susceptibility tensor components within the electric-dipole approximation, but also lead to different levels of multipolar interactions for the two orthogonal circular polarizations that further enhance the nonlinear optical activity of the material. Our results thus indicate novel ways to optimize nonlinear plasmonic structures and achieve giant chiroptical response via multipolar interactions. PMID:26911449

Based on the facts that chiral molecules response differently to left- and right-handed circular polarized light, chiroptical effects are widely employed for determining structure chirality, detecting enantiomeric excess, or controlling chemical reactions of molecules. Compared to those in natural materials, chiroptical behaviors can be significantly amplified in chiral plasmonic metamaterials due to the concentrated local fields in the structure. The on-going research towards giant chiroptical effects in metamaterial generally focus on optimizing the field-enhancement effects. However, the observed chiroptical effects in metamaterials rely on more complicated factors and various possibilities towards giant chiroptical effects remains unexplored. Here we study the optical-active second harmonic generation (SHG) behaviors in a pair of planar sawtooth gratings with mirror-imaged patterns. Significant multipolar effects were observed in the polarization-dependent SHG curves. We show that the chirality of the nanostructure not only give rise to nonzero chiral susceptibility tensor components within the electric-dipole approximation, but also lead to different levels of multipolar interactions for the two orthogonal circular polarizations that further enhance the nonlinear optical activity of the material. Our results thus indicate novel ways to optimize nonlinear plasmonic structures and achieve giant chiroptical response via multipolar interactions. PMID:26911449

Based on the facts that chiral molecules response differently to left- and right-handed circular polarized light, chiroptical effects are widely employed for determining structure chirality, detecting enantiomeric excess, or controlling chemical reactions of molecules. Compared to those in natural materials, chiroptical behaviors can be significantly amplified in chiral plasmonic metamaterials due to the concentrated local fields in the structure. The on-going research towards giant chiroptical effects in metamaterial generally focus on optimizing the field-enhancement effects. However, the observed chiroptical effects in metamaterials rely on more complicated factors and various possibilities towards giant chiroptical effects remains unexplored. Here we study the optical-active second harmonic generation (SHG) behaviors in a pair of planar sawtooth gratings with mirror-imaged patterns. Significant multipolar effects were observed in the polarization-dependent SHG curves. We show that the chirality of the nanostructure not only give rise to nonzero chiral susceptibility tensor components within the electric-dipole approximation, but also lead to different levels of multipolar interactions for the two orthogonal circular polarizations that further enhance the nonlinear optical activity of the material. Our results thus indicate novel ways to optimize nonlinear plasmonic structures and achieve giant chiroptical response via multipolar interactions.

We demonstrated fine emission wavelength tuning of quantum dot (QD) fluorescence by fine structural control of opticalmetamaterials with Fano resonance. An asymmetric-double-bar (ADB), which was composed of only two bars with slightly different bar lengths, was used to obtain Fano resonance in the optical region. By changing the short bar length of ADB structures with high dimensional accuracy in the order of 10 nm, resonant wavelengths of Fano resonance were controlled from 1296 to 1416 nm. Fluorescence of QDs embedded in a polymer layer on ADB metamaterials were modified due to coupling to Fano resonance and fine tuning from 1350 to 1376 nm was observed. Wavelength tuning of modified fluorescence was reproduced by analysis using absorption peaks of Fano resonance. Tuning range of modified fluorescence became narrow, which was interpreted by a simple Gaussian model and resulted from comparable FWHM in QD fluorescence and Fano resonant peaks. The results will help the design and fabrication of metamaterial devices with fluorophores such as light sources and biomarkers. PMID:27622503

We suggest that electromagnetic chirality, generally displayed by 3D or 2D complex chiral structures, can occur in 1D patterned composites whose components are achiral. This feature is highly unexpected in a 1D system which is geometrically achiral since its mirror image can always be superposed onto it by a 180 deg rotation. We analytically evaluate from first principles the bianisotropic response of multilayered metamaterials and we show that the chiral tensor is not vanishing if the system is geometrically one-dimensional chiral; i.e., its mirror image cannot be superposed onto it by using translations without resorting to rotations. As a signature of 1D chirality, we show that 1D chiral metamaterials support optical activity and we prove that this phenomenon undergoes a dramatic nonresonant enhancement in the epsilon-near-zero regime where the magnetoelectric coupling can become dominant in the constitutive relations. PMID:26274441

We analytically extend the scope of transformation optics (TO) to metamaterial-modified wireless power transfer (WPT) systems and demonstrate that the extended TO can help design the highly efficient WPT. The methodology is based on rigorous scattering theory, enabling an equivalent model under certain circumstances to be established, that can significantly simplify investigating metamaterial-enhanced WPT. More important, from the analytical study on the equivalent model, we prove that TO is still applicable, even when the conditions of complementary media are not satisfied. Our findings are verified numerically using our methodology as well as COMSOL simulations. Moreover, a further study also indicates the extended TO explanation as well as the analysis of the equivalent model could help improve the transfer efficiency of WPT significantly. The demonstrations are not restricted to any specific frequency, and the conclusions could be extended to a broad range of wavelengths, including applications to active cloaks and other related devices.

All-optical tunable plasmonic-mode coupling is realized in a nonlinear photonic metamaterial consisting of periodic arrays of gold asymmetrically split ring resonators, covered with a poly[(methyl methacrylate)-co-(disperse red 13 acrylate)] azobenzene polymer layer. The third-order optical nonlinearity of the azobenzene polymer is enormously enhanced by using resonant excitation. Under excitation with a 17-kW/cm{sup 2}, 532-nm pump light, plasmonic modes shift by 51 nm and the mode interval is enlarged by 30 nm. Compared with previous reports, the threshold pump intensity is reduced by five orders of magnitude, while extremely large tunability is maintained.

The optical nonlocality near the Dirac point in infinite periodic metal-dielectric multilayer metamaterials is investigated through the dispersion relation analysis according to the transfer-matrix method. It is revealed that both the symmetric and asymmetric surface plasmon polariton modes present the zero nonlocal effective permittivity, and the degeneracy of these two modes results in the emergence of the Dirac point. Furthermore, the Zitterbewegung effect near the Dirac point induced by the optical nonlocality is demonstrated due to the coherent coupling between the symmetric and asymmetric modes. PMID:27136999

Extremely anisotropic metal-dielectric multilayer metamaterials are designed to have the effective permittivity tensor of a transverse component (parallel to the interfaces of the multilayer) with zero real part and a longitudinal component (normal to the interfaces of the multilayer) with ultra-large imaginary part at the same wavelength, including the optical nonlocality analysis based on the transfer-matrix method. The diffraction-free deep-subwavelength optical beam propagation with near-zero phase variation in the designed multilayer stack due to the near-flat iso-frequency contour is demonstrated and analyzed, including the effects of the multilayer period and the material loss.

Recently, many fascinating properties predicted for metamaterials (negative refraction, superlensing, electromagnetic cloaking,…) were experimentally demonstrated. Unfortunately, the best achievements have no direct translation to the optical domain, without being burdened by technological and conceptual difficulties. Of particular importance within the realm of optical negative-index metamaterials (NIM), is the issue of simultaneously achieving strong electric and magnetic responses and low associated losses. Here, hybrid metal-semiconductor nanowires are proposed as building blocks of optical NIMs. The metamaterial thus obtained, highly isotropic in the plane normal to the nanowires, presents a negative index of refraction in the near-infrared, with values of the real part well below −1, and extremely low losses (an order of magnitude better than present optical NIMs). Tunability of the system allows to select the operating range in the whole telecom spectrum. The design is proven in configurations such as prisms and slabs, directly observing negative refraction. PMID:23514968

Balancing complexity and simplicity has played an important role in the development of many fields in science and engineering. One of the well-known and powerful examples of such balance can be found in Boolean algebra and its impact on the birth of digital electronics and the digital information age. The simplicity of using only two numbers, ‘0’ and ‘1’, in a binary system for describing an arbitrary quantity made the fields of digital electronics and digital signal processing powerful and ubiquitous. Here, inspired by the binary concept, we propose to develop the notion of digital metamaterials. Specifically, we investigate how one can synthesize an electromagnetic metamaterial with a desired permittivity, using as building blocks only two elemental materials, which we call ‘metamaterial bits’, with two distinct permittivity functions. We demonstrate, analytically and numerically, how proper spatial mixtures of such metamaterial bits lead to elemental ‘metamaterial bytes’ with effective material parameters that are different from the parameters of the metamaterial bits. We then apply this methodology to several design examples of optical elements, such as digital convex lenses, flat graded-index digital lenses, digital constructs for epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) supercoupling and digital hyperlenses, thus highlighting the power and simplicity of the methodology.

Balancing complexity and simplicity has played an important role in the development of many fields in science and engineering. One of the well-known and powerful examples of such balance can be found in Boolean algebra and its impact on the birth of digital electronics and the digital information age. The simplicity of using only two numbers, '0' and '1', in a binary system for describing an arbitrary quantity made the fields of digital electronics and digital signal processing powerful and ubiquitous. Here, inspired by the binary concept, we propose to develop the notion of digital metamaterials. Specifically, we investigate how one can synthesize an electromagnetic metamaterial with a desired permittivity, using as building blocks only two elemental materials, which we call 'metamaterial bits', with two distinct permittivity functions. We demonstrate, analytically and numerically, how proper spatial mixtures of such metamaterial bits lead to elemental 'metamaterial bytes' with effective material parameters that are different from the parameters of the metamaterial bits. We then apply this methodology to several design examples of optical elements, such as digital convex lenses, flat graded-index digital lenses, digital constructs for epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) supercoupling and digital hyperlenses, thus highlighting the power and simplicity of the methodology. PMID:25218061

We analytically study dispersion properties and optical gradient forces of different-order transverse magnetic (TM) modes in two coupled hyperbolic metamaterial waveguides (HMMWs). According to Maxwell's equations, we obtain the dispersion relation of symmetric and antisymmetric modes, and calculate optical gradient forces of different-order modes by using Maxwell stress tensor. Numerical results show that the dispersion properties are dependent on the filling ratio, and the optical gradient forces of high-order TM modes are larger than the fundamental mode when the gap between two HMMWs is very narrow, but they weaken much faster than the case of low-order TM modes with the gap width increasing. In addition, the effects of the dielectric surrounding of waveguides on the coupling effect and optical gradient force are clarified. These properties offer an avenue for various optomechanical applications in optical sensors and actuators.

Following our recent theoretical development of the concepts of nanoinductors, nanocapacitors, and nanoresistors at optical frequencies and the possibility of synthesizing more complex nanoscale circuits, we theoretically investigate in detail the problem of optical nanotransmission lines (NTLs) that can be envisioned by properly joining together arrays of these basic nanoscale circuit elements. We show how, in the limit in which these basic circuit elements are closely packed together, NTLs can be regarded as stacks of plasmonic and nonplasmonic planar slabs, which may be designed to effectively exhibit the properties of planar metamaterials with forward (right-handed) or backward (left-handed) operation. With the proper design, negative refraction and left-handed propagation are shown to be possible in these planar plasmonic guided-wave structures, providing possibilities for subwavelength focusing and imaging in planar optics and laterally confined waveguiding at IR and visible frequencies. The effective material parameters for such NTLs are derived, and the connection and analogy between these optical NTLs and the double-negative and double-positive metamaterials are also explored. Physical insights and justification for the results are also presented.

On the mesoscopic scale, electromagnetic forces are of fundamental importance to an enormously diverse range of systems, from optical tweezers to the adhesion of gecko toes. Here we show that a strong light-driven force may be generated when a plasmonic metamaterial is illuminated in close proximity to a dielectric or metal surface. This near-field force can exceed radiation pressure and Casimir forces to provide an optically controlled adhesion mechanism mimicking the gecko toe: At illumination intensities of just a few tens of nW/μm2 it is sufficient to overcome the Earth's gravitational pull.

This paper investigates a class of circular waveguiding structures containing anisotropic metamaterials and explores their potential benefits in applications from RF to optical frequencies. The introduction of anisotropy in these waveguides is shown to provide substantial control of the dispersion and field distributions of several supported modes. For exotic material parameters such as permittivity and permeability that are typically associated with metamaterials, intriguing propagation phenomena such as backward-wave behavior, frequency-reduced modes, monomodal propagation, and field confinement are observed and provide enabling functionalities for a wide range of RF/microwave and optical applications.

Metamaterials offer a huge range of new electromagnetic properties: negative refraction, spatial inhomogeneity to name only two. To exploit the possibilities offered in this new world we need a new design tool. Maxwell's equations are exact at the classical level but lack transparency; Snell's law is elegantly visual, an aid to the imagination, but fails to account for many vital aspects of electromagnetism. Transformation optics retains an intuitive appeal, replacing the rays of Snell's law with the field lines of Maxwell whose equations is represents exactly.

The transmittance magneto-optical (MO) characteristics of Epsilon-Near-Zero (ENZ) metamaterials are studied, using 4 by 4 transfer matrix method. The considered structures are a free standing ENZ-MO slab, and a microcavity type multi-layer structure containing an ENZ-MO layer. The transmittance coefficients of the right- and left-handed circular polarizations for the slab are analytically obtained and numerically investigated. Furthermore, these characteristics are numerically studied for the multi-layer structure. In addition, the Faraday rotations of both structures are investigated. The results reveal the circular polarization filtering effects.

Metamaterials are rationally designed man-made structures composed of functional building blocks that are densely packed into an effective (crystalline) material. While metamaterials are mostly associated with negative refractive indices and invisibility cloaking in electromagnetism or optics, the deceptively simple metamaterial concept also applies to rather different areas such as thermodynamics, classical mechanics (including elastostatics, acoustics, fluid dynamics and elastodynamics), and, in principle, also to quantum mechanics. We review the basic concepts, analogies and differences to electromagnetism, and give an overview on the current state of the art regarding theory and experiment—all from the viewpoint of an experimentalist. This review includes homogeneous metamaterials as well as intentionally inhomogeneous metamaterial architectures designed by coordinate-transformation-based approaches analogous to transformation optics. Examples are laminates, transient thermal cloaks, thermal concentrators and inverters, ‘space-coiling’ metamaterials, anisotropic acoustic metamaterials, acoustic free-space and carpet cloaks, cloaks for gravitational surface waves, auxetic mechanical metamaterials, pentamode metamaterials (‘meta-liquids’), mechanical metamaterials with negative dynamic mass density, negative dynamic bulk modulus, or negative phase velocity, seismic metamaterials, cloaks for flexural waves in thin plates and three-dimensional elastostatic cloaks.

Metamaterials are rationally designed man-made structures composed of functional building blocks that are densely packed into an effective (crystalline) material. While metamaterials are mostly associated with negative refractive indices and invisibility cloaking in electromagnetism or optics, the deceptively simple metamaterial concept also applies to rather different areas such as thermodynamics, classical mechanics (including elastostatics, acoustics, fluid dynamics and elastodynamics), and, in principle, also to quantum mechanics. We review the basic concepts, analogies and differences to electromagnetism, and give an overview on the current state of the art regarding theory and experiment-all from the viewpoint of an experimentalist. This review includes homogeneous metamaterials as well as intentionally inhomogeneous metamaterial architectures designed by coordinate-transformation-based approaches analogous to transformation optics. Examples are laminates, transient thermal cloaks, thermal concentrators and inverters, 'space-coiling' metamaterials, anisotropic acoustic metamaterials, acoustic free-space and carpet cloaks, cloaks for gravitational surface waves, auxetic mechanical metamaterials, pentamode metamaterials ('meta-liquids'), mechanical metamaterials with negative dynamic mass density, negative dynamic bulk modulus, or negative phase velocity, seismic metamaterials, cloaks for flexural waves in thin plates and three-dimensional elastostatic cloaks. PMID:24190877

Epsilon(ɛ) near zero(ENZ) materials are metamaterials where the effective dielectric constant(ɛ) is close to zero for a range of wavelengths resulting in zero effective displacement field (D = ɛE) and displacement current. ENZ structures are of great interest in many application areas such as optical nanocircuits, supercoupling, cloaking, emission enhancement etc. Effective ENZ behavior has been demonstrated using cut-off frequency region in a metallic waveguide where the modal index vanishes. Here we demonstrate the fabrication of ENZ metamaterials operating at visible wavelengths (λ ~ 640nm) using an effective medium approach based on a metal-dielectric composites(App. Phys. Let.,101,241107(2012)) that can act as ``bulk'' ENZ material. The structure consists of a multilayer stack composite of alternating nanoscale thickness layers of Ag and TiO2. Optical spectroscopy shows transmission and absorption response is consistent with ENZ behavior and matches well with simulations. We will discuss the criteria necessary in the design and practical implementation of the composite that better approximates a homogenous effective medium including techniques to minimize the effect of optical losses to boost transmission. The potential for hosting gain media in the gratings to address losses and emission control will be discussed. Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-program laboratory managed and operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation, for the U.S. DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-AC04-94AL85000.

We present an experimental and computational study of the response of twisted-cross metamaterials that provide near dispersionless optical rotation across a broad band of frequencies from 19 GHz to 37 GHz. We compare two distinct geometries: firstly, a bilayer structure comprised of arrays of metallic crosses where the crosses in the second layer are twisted about the layer normal; and secondly where the second layer is replaced by the complementary to the original, i.e. an array of cross-shaped holes. Through numerical modelling we determine the origin of rotatory effects in these two structures. In both, pure optical rotation occurs in a frequency band between two transmission minima, where alignment of electric and magnetic dipole moments occurs. In the cross/cross metamaterial, the transmission minima occur at the symmetric and antisymmetric resonances of the coupled crosses. By contrast, in the cross/complementary-cross structure the transmission minima are associated with the dipole and quadrupole modes of the cross, the frequencies of which appear intrinsic to the cross layer alone. Hence the bandwidth of optical rotation is found to be relatively independent of layer separation. PMID:27457405

We present an experimental and computational study of the response of twisted-cross metamaterials that provide near dispersionless optical rotation across a broad band of frequencies from 19 GHz to 37 GHz. We compare two distinct geometries: firstly, a bilayer structure comprised of arrays of metallic crosses where the crosses in the second layer are twisted about the layer normal; and secondly where the second layer is replaced by the complementary to the original, i.e. an array of cross-shaped holes. Through numerical modelling we determine the origin of rotatory effects in these two structures. In both, pure optical rotation occurs in a frequency band between two transmission minima, where alignment of electric and magnetic dipole moments occurs. In the cross/cross metamaterial, the transmission minima occur at the symmetric and antisymmetric resonances of the coupled crosses. By contrast, in the cross/complementary-cross structure the transmission minima are associated with the dipole and quadrupole modes of the cross, the frequencies of which appear intrinsic to the cross layer alone. Hence the bandwidth of optical rotation is found to be relatively independent of layer separation.

We present an experimental and computational study of the response of twisted-cross metamaterials that provide near dispersionless optical rotation across a broad band of frequencies from 19 GHz to 37 GHz. We compare two distinct geometries: firstly, a bilayer structure comprised of arrays of metallic crosses where the crosses in the second layer are twisted about the layer normal; and secondly where the second layer is replaced by the complementary to the original, i.e. an array of cross-shaped holes. Through numerical modelling we determine the origin of rotatory effects in these two structures. In both, pure optical rotation occurs in a frequency band between two transmission minima, where alignment of electric and magnetic dipole moments occurs. In the cross/cross metamaterial, the transmission minima occur at the symmetric and antisymmetric resonances of the coupled crosses. By contrast, in the cross/complementary-cross structure the transmission minima are associated with the dipole and quadrupole modes of the cross, the frequencies of which appear intrinsic to the cross layer alone. Hence the bandwidth of optical rotation is found to be relatively independent of layer separation. PMID:27457405

In this work we report on the strong improvement of pattern quality and significant write-time reduction using Character Projection with a multi-stencil character stage with more than 2000 apertures for the fabrication of nanomaterials and, in particular, on an opticalmetamaterial, which is called "Metamaterial Perfect Absorber". The Character Projection ebeam lithography allows the transition from the time-consuming serial to a fast quasi-parallel writing method and opens the way for the fabrication of device areas which are impossible to realize with often in the R&D used SEM based Gaussian electron beam-writers. More than 150.000 times faster than the comparable Gaussian E-beam exposure, 100 times faster and with a factor of 10 improved pattern size homogeneity than the corresponding Variable Shaped E-beam exposure - these are our main results for the fabrication of opticalmetamaterials using a Variable Shaped E-beam with Character Projection.

Negative-index metamaterials (NIMs) are engineered structures with optical properties that cannot be obtained in naturally occurring materials. Recent work has demonstrated that focused ion beam and layer-by-layer electron-beam lithography can be used to pattern the necessary nanoscale features over small areas (hundreds of µm2) for metamaterials with three-dimensional layouts and interesting characteristics, including negative-index behaviour in the optical regime. A key challenge is in the fabrication of such three-dimensional NIMs with sizes and at throughputs necessary for many realistic applications (including lenses, resonators and other photonic components). We report a simple printing approach capable of forming large-area, high-quality NIMs with three-dimensional, multilayer formats. Here, a silicon wafer with deep, nanoscale patterns of surface relief serves as a reusable stamp. Blanket deposition of alternating layers of silver and magnesium fluoride onto such a stamp represents a process for `inking' it with thick, multilayer assemblies. Transfer printing this ink material onto rigid or flexible substrates completes the fabrication in a high-throughput manner. Experimental measurements and simulation results show that macroscale, three-dimensional NIMs (>75 cm2) nano-manufactured in this way exhibit a strong, negative index of refraction in the near-infrared spectral range, with excellent figures of merit.

Titanium nitride (TiN) is a plasmonic material having optical properties resembling gold. Unlike gold, however, TiN is complementary metal oxide semiconductor-compatible, mechanically strong, and thermally stable at higher temperatures. Additionally, TiN exhibits low-index surfaces with surface energies that are lower than those of the noble metals which facilitates the growth of smooth, ultrathin crystalline films. Such films are crucial in constructing low-loss, high-performance plasmonic and metamaterial devices including hyperbolic metamaterials (HMMs). HMMs have been shown to exhibit exotic optical properties, including extremely high broadband photonic densities of states (PDOS), which are useful in quantum plasmonic applications. However, the extent to which the exotic properties of HMMs can be realized has been seriously limited by fabrication constraints and material properties. Here, we address these issues by realizing an epitaxial superlattice as an HMM. The superlattice consists of ultrasmooth layers as thin as 5 nm and exhibits sharp interfaces which are essential for high-quality HMM devices. Our study reveals that such a TiN-based superlattice HMM provides a higher PDOS enhancement than gold- or silver-based HMMs. PMID:24821762

Titanium nitride (TiN) is a plasmonic material having optical properties resembling gold. Unlike gold, however, TiN is complementary metal oxide semiconductor-compatible, mechanically strong, and thermally stable at higher temperatures. Additionally, TiN exhibits low-index surfaces with surface energies that are lower than those of the noble metals which facilitates the growth of smooth, ultrathin crystalline films. Such films are crucial in constructing low-loss, high-performance plasmonic and metamaterial devices including hyperbolic metamaterials (HMMs). HMMs have been shown to exhibit exotic optical properties, including extremely high broadband photonic densities of states (PDOS), which are useful in quantum plasmonic applications. However, the extent to which the exotic properties of HMMs can be realized has been seriously limited by fabrication constraints and material properties. Here, we address these issues by realizing an epitaxial superlattice as an HMM. The superlattice consists of ultrasmooth layers as thin as 5 nm and exhibits sharp interfaces which are essential for high-quality HMM devices. Our study reveals that such a TiN-based superlattice HMM provides a higher PDOS enhancement than gold- or silver-based HMMs. PMID:24821762

We apply the methods of transformation optics to theoretical descriptions of spacetimes that support closed null geodesic curves. The metric used is based on frame dragging spacetimes, such as the van Stockum dust or the Kerr black hole. Through transformation optics, this metric is analogous to a material that in theory should allow for communication between past and future. Presented herein is a derivation and description of the spacetime and the resulting permeability, permittivity, and magnetoelectric couplings that a material would need in order for light in the material to follow closed null geodesics. We also address the paradoxical implications of such a material and demonstrate why such a material would not actually result in a violation of causality. A full derivation of the Plebanski equations is also included.

An all-optical tunable double plasmon-induced transparency is realized in a photonic metamaterial coated on the surface of a nanocomposite layer made of polycrystalline indium-tin oxide doped with gold nanoparticles. The local-field effect, quantum confinement effect, and hot-electron injection ensure a large optical nonlinearity for the nanocomposite. A shift of 120 nm in the central wavelength of transparency windows is reached under excitation with a weak pump laser with an intensity of 21 kW/cm{sup 2}. Compared with previous reports, the threshold pump intensity is reduced by five orders of magnitude, while an ultrafast response time of 34.9 ps is maintained.

In the last decade, a technique termed transformation optics has been developed for the design of novel electromagnetic devices. This method defines the exact modification of magnetic and dielectric constants required, so that the electromagnetic behaviour remains invariant after a transformation to a new coordinate system. Despite the apparently infinite possibilities that this mathematical tool introduces, one restriction has repeatedly recurred since its conception: limited frequency bands of operation. Here we circumvent this problem with the proposal of a full dielectric implementation of a transformed planar hyperbolic lens which retains the same focusing properties of an original curved lens. The redesigned lens demonstrates operation with high directivity and low side lobe levels for an ultra-wide band of frequencies, spanning over three octaves. The methodology proposed in this paper can be applied to revolutionise the design of many electromagnetic devices overcoming bandwidth limitations.

In the last decade, a technique termed transformation optics has been developed for the design of novel electromagnetic devices. This method defines the exact modification of magnetic and dielectric constants required, so that the electromagnetic behaviour remains invariant after a transformation to a new coordinate system. Despite the apparently infinite possibilities that this mathematical tool introduces, one restriction has repeatedly recurred since its conception: limited frequency bands of operation. Here we circumvent this problem with the proposal of a full dielectric implementation of a transformed planar hyperbolic lens which retains the same focusing properties of an original curved lens. The redesigned lens demonstrates operation with high directivity and low side lobe levels for an ultra-wide band of frequencies, spanning over three octaves. The methodology proposed in this paper can be applied to revolutionise the design of many electromagnetic devices overcoming bandwidth limitations. PMID:23712699

We theoretically demonstrate the possibility of dynamically controlling the response of metamaterials at optical frequencies using the well known phenomenon of coherent control. Our results predict a variety of effects ranging from dramatic reduction of losses associated with the resonant response of metamaterials to switchable ultraslow to superluminal propagation of pulses governed by the magnetic field of the incident wave. These effects, generic to all metamaterials having a resonant response, involve embedding the metamaterial in resonant dispersive coherent atomic/molecular media. These effects may be utilized for narrow band switching applications and detectors for radiation below predetermined cut-off frequencies.

Computational ghost imaging (CGI) enables an image to be recorded using a single-pixel detector. The image can be reconstructed from correlations between the scene and a series of known projected intensity patterns. In this work we investigate the performance of CGI using pseudo non-diffracting (ND) speckle patterns. We demonstrate an extended depth-of-field that is ∼ 2-3 times greater than that achievable with conventional speckle, when only computing each intensity pattern to a single depth. In addition, the average speckle grain size of ND speckle is reduced by a factor of ∼ 1.5 relative to conventional speckle, which enhances the lateral Rayleigh-limit resolving power of our reconstructed images. However, the point-spread function (PSF) of our imaging system takes the form of a Bessel beam, which manifests itself as long-range correlations between speckle grains in the projected patterns. We discuss the trade-off between enhancement of the depth-of-field and the lateral resolution when using ND speckle, at the expense of a reduction in image contrast. Our work demonstrates that the tailoring of lateral and axial correlations in projected intensity patterns permits PSF engineering in CGI. PMID:27410575

The lateral beam shift of light incident on a multilayered hyperbolic metamaterial (HMM) is investigated using a theoretical model which emphasizes the nonlocal optical response of the indefinite material. By applying an effective local response theory formulated recently in the literature, it is found that nonlocal effects only affect p polarized light in this Goos-Hänchen (GH) shift of the incident beam; leading to a blue-shifted peak for positive shifts at high frequencies and red-shifted dip for negative shifts at low frequencies in the GH shift spectrum. An account for the observed phenomenon is given by referring to the ‘Brewster condition’ for the reflected wave from the HMM. This observation thus provides a relatively direct probe for the nonlocal response of the HMM.

We demonstrate numerically and experimentally chiral metamaterials (MTMs) based on gammadion-bilayer cross-wires that uniaxially create giant optical activity and tunable circular dichroism as a result of the dynamic design. In addition, the suggested structure gives high negative refractive index due to the large chirality in order to obtain an efficient polarization converter. We also present a numerical analysis in order to show the additional features of the proposed chiral MTM in detail. Therefore, a MTM sensor application of the proposed chiral MTM is introduced and discussed. The presented chiral designs offer a much simpler geometry and more efficient outlines. The experimental results are in a good agreement with the numerical simulation. It can be seen from the results that, the suggested chiral MTM can be used as a polarization converter, sensor, etc. for several frequency regimes.

Electric displacement current is present in capacitors and optical waveguides; however, unlike the conduction current in metallic wires, it is not confined. Analogous to the contrast in conductivity between a metallic wire and the surrounding air, displacement-current wires based on near-zero permittivity media contain a large contrast in effective permittivity. As a variation on this idea, in this Letter, we demonstrate at microwave frequencies two displacement-current cables based on effectively negative and effectively positive permittivity metastructures. Our experimental results clearly show cablelike behaviors that allow bending of the structure while still confining and maintaining the primarily longitudinal forward and reverse effective displacement currents within each conduit. The results presented here experimentally verify the notion of displacement-current wires and cables in metatronics as metamaterial-inspired circuitry. PMID:23003040

In this work, we have designed a photonic-metamaterial based broadband circular polarizer using N=4 phase-lagged aluminum single helices arranged in a square array as a unit cell. The effect of phase differences between the helices in an array on the optical performance of the structure is studied, and a comparative study is done with that of multi-intertwined helices. It is observed that the proposed metamaterial structure shows circular polarization sensitivity over a broad optical wavelength range (≈450-900 nm), with improved optical performance in average extinction ratio and broad positive circular dichroism in comparison to multiple intertwined helices. The induced phase lag between the helices in a square-array based unit cell reduces the linear birefringence and leads to the recovery of circular space symmetry in the structure. PMID:25968042

In recent years metamaterials have offered new possibilities for overcoming some of the intrinsic limitations in wave propagation. Their realization at microwave frequencies has followed two different paths; one consisting of embedding resonant inclusions in a host dielectric, and the other following a transmission-line approach, i.e., building 1-D, 2-D, or 3-D cascades of circuit elements, respectively, as linear, planar or bulk right- or left-handed metamaterials. The latter is known to provide larger bandwidth and better robustness to ohmic losses. Extending these concepts to optical frequencies is a challenging task, due to changes in material response to electromagnetic waves at these frequencies. However, recently we have studied theoretically how it may be possible to have circuit nano-elements at these frequencies by properly exploiting plasmonic resonances. Here we present our theoretical work on translating the circuit concepts of right- and left-handed metamaterials into optical frequencies by applying the analogy between nanoparticles and nanocircuit elements in transmission lines. We discuss how it is possible to synthesize optical negative-refraction metamaterials by properly cascading plasmonic and non-plasmonic elements in 1-D, 2-D and 3-D geometries.

The non-trivial behaviour of phase is crucial for many important physical phenomena, such as, for example, the Aharonov-Bohm effect and the Berry phase. By manipulating the phase of light one can create 'twisted' photons, vortex knots and dislocations which has led to the emergence of the field of singular optics relying on abrupt phase changes. Here we demonstrate the feasibility of singular visible-light nano-optics which exploits the benefits of both plasmonic field enhancement and the peculiarities of the phase of light. We show that properly designed plasmonic metamaterials exhibit topologically protected zero reflection yielding to sharp phase changes nearby, which can be employed to radically improve the sensitivity of detectors based on plasmon resonances. By using reversible hydrogenation of graphene and binding of streptavidin-biotin, we demonstrate an areal mass sensitivity at a level of fg mm(-2) and detection of individual biomolecules, respectively. Our proof-of-concept results offer a route towards simple and scalable single-molecule label-free biosensing technologies. PMID:23314104

The non-trivial behaviour of phase is crucial for many important physical phenomena, such as, for example, the Aharonov-Bohm effect and the Berry phase. By manipulating the phase of light one can create ’twisted’ photons, vortex knots and dislocations which has led to the emergence of the field of singular optics relying on abrupt phase changes. Here we demonstrate the feasibility of singular visible-light nano-optics which exploits the benefits of both plasmonic field enhancement and the peculiarities of the phase of light. We show that properly designed plasmonic metamaterials exhibit topologically protected zero reflection yielding to sharp phase changes nearby, which can be employed to radically improve the sensitivity of detectors based on plasmon resonances. By using reversible hydrogenation of graphene and binding of streptavidin-biotin, we demonstrate an areal mass sensitivity at a level of fg mm-2 and detection of individual biomolecules, respectively. Our proof-of-concept results offer a route towards simple and scalable single-molecule label-free biosensing technologies.

The changing balance of forces at the nanoscale offers the opportunity to develop a new generation of spatially reconfigurable nanomembrane metamaterials in which electromagnetic Coulomb, Lorentz and Ampère forces, as well as thermal stimulation and optical signals, can be engaged to dynamically change their optical properties. Individual building blocks of such metamaterials, the metamolecules, and their arrays fabricated on elastic dielectric membranes can be reconfigured to achieve optical modulation at high frequencies, potentially reaching the gigahertz range. Mechanical and optical resonances enhance the magnitude of actuation and optical response within these nanostructures, which can be driven by electric signals of only a few volts or optical signals with power of only a few milliwatts. We envisage switchable, electro-optical, magneto-optical and nonlinear metamaterials that are compact and silicon-nanofabrication-technology compatible with functionalities surpassing those of natural media by orders of magnitude in some key design parameters.

The changing balance of forces at the nanoscale offers the opportunity to develop a new generation of spatially reconfigurable nanomembrane metamaterials in which electromagnetic Coulomb, Lorentz and Ampère forces, as well as thermal stimulation and optical signals, can be engaged to dynamically change their optical properties. Individual building blocks of such metamaterials, the metamolecules, and their arrays fabricated on elastic dielectric membranes can be reconfigured to achieve optical modulation at high frequencies, potentially reaching the gigahertz range. Mechanical and optical resonances enhance the magnitude of actuation and optical response within these nanostructures, which can be driven by electric signals of only a few volts or optical signals with power of only a few milliwatts. We envisage switchable, electro-optical, magneto-optical and nonlinear metamaterials that are compact and silicon-nanofabrication-technology compatible with functionalities surpassing those of natural media by orders of magnitude in some key design parameters. PMID:26740040

During the past ten years subwavelength metallic structures have enabled metamaterials exhibiting exotic physical properties that are not possible or difficult to realize using naturally occurring materials, This bottom-up metamaterial approach is particularly attractive in the terahertz (THz) frequency range, where the THz gap is inherently associated with the lack of materials with appropriate reponse. In fact THz metamaterial devices have accomplished unprecedented performance towards practical applications. In these devices, the key is to incorporate natural materials, e,g, semiconductors, as the metamaterial substrates or integration parts of metamaterial structures. The active or dynamic tunability of metamaterials is through the application of external stimuli such as temperature, photoexcitation, or electric field. to modify the capacitive gaps in split-ring resonators (SRRs), It becomes clear that we would not be able to do much on the metallic SRRs, i.e. the metal conductivity and therefore the inductance largely remain constant not affected by external stimuli. Recently, there has been increasing interest in superconducting metamaterials towards loss reduction. Significant Joule losses have often prevented resonant metal metamaterials from achieving proposed applications. particularly in the optical frequency range. At low temperatures, superconducting materials possess superior conductivity than metals at frequencies up to THz. and therefore it is expected that superconducting melamaterials will have a lower loss than metal metamatetials, More interestingly, superconductors exhibit tunable complex conductivity over a wide range of values through change of temperature and application of photoexcitation, electrical currents and magnetic fields. Therefore, we would expect correspondingly tunable metamaterials. which originate from the superconducting materials composing the metamaterial, in contrast to tuning the metamaterial embedded environment.

When an applied magnetic field has an arbitrary direction with respect to the lattice axes of a periodically microstructured or nanostructured metamaterial, the effective permittivity tensor of the metamaterial sample becomes anisotropic and all its components can be nonzero. This is true even if the microstructure has a high symmetry, e.g., cubic or triangular. It is found that the strong magneto-induced anisotropy which appears in the macroscopic response leads to unusual anisotropic behavior of the Voigt effect and other magneto-optical (MO) effects. I.e., these phenomena become strongly dependent on the direction of the applied static magnetic field, as well as on the direction of the time dependent electromagnetic field, with respect to the symmetry axes of the periodic microstructure.

Here we demonstrate the control of magnetic dipole spontaneous emission at yellow light by magnetic metamaterials. By embedding magnetic dipole into a magnetic metamaterial consisting of arrays of paired silver strips, the radiative emission enhancement and the Purcell factor around 590 nm has been dramatically increased to 110 and 180 respectively. Moreover, the enhancements are found to be robust to variation of dipole's positions and structure geometries, showing nice fabrication tolerance for practical applications.

We use planar metamaterial resonators to enhance by more than two orders of magnitude the near infrared second harmonic generation obtained from intersubband transitions in III-Nitride heterostructures. The improvement arises from two factors: employing an asymmetric double quantum well design and aligning the resonators' cross-polarized resonances with the intersubband transition energies. The resulting nonlinear metamaterial operates at wavelengths where single photon detection is available, and represents a different class of sources for quantum photonics related phenomena.

As a result of advances in nanotechnology and the burgeoning capabilities for fabricating materials with controlled nanoscale geometries, the traditional notion of what constitutes an optical device continues to evolve. The fusion of maturing low-cost lithographic techniques with newer optical design strategies has enabled the introduction of artificially structured metamaterials in place of conventional materials for improving optical components as well as realizing new optical functionality. Here we demonstrate multilayer, lithographically patterned, subwavelength, metal elements, whose distribution forms a computer-generated phase hologram in the infrared region (10.6 μm). Metal inclusions exhibit extremely large scattering and can be implemented in metamaterials that exhibit a wide range of effective medium response, including anomalously large or negative refractive index; optical magnetism; and controlled anisotropy. This large palette of metamaterial responses can be leveraged to achieve greater control over the propagation of light, leading to more compact, efficient and versatile optical components.

Media that are described by extreme electromagnetic parameters, such as very large/small permittivity/permeability, have generated significant fundamental and applied interest in recent years. Notable examples include epsilon-near-zero, ultra-low refractive-index, and ultra-high refractive-index materials. Many photonic structures, such as waveguides, lenses, and photonic band gap materials, benefit greatly from the large index contrast provided by such media. In this paper, I discuss our recent work on media with infinite anisotropy, i.e., infinite permittivity (permeability) in one direction and finite in the other directions. As an illustration of the unusual optical behaviors that result from infinite anisotropy, I describe efficient light transport in deep-subwavelength apertures filled with infinitely anisotropic media. I then point out some of the opportunities that exist for controlling light at the nano-scale using infinitely anisotropic media by themselves. First, I show that a single medium with infinite anisotropy enables diffraction-free propagation of deep-subwavelength beams. Next, I demonstrate interfaces between two infinitely anisotropic media that are impedancematched for complete deep-subwavelength beams and enable reflection-free routing with zero bend radius that is entirely free from diffraction effects even when deep-subwavelength information is encoded on the beams. These behaviors indicate an unprecedented possibility to use media with infinite anisotropy to manipulate beams with deepsubwavelength features, including complete images. To illustrate physical realizability, I demonstrate a metamaterial design using existing materials in a planar geometry, which can be implemented using well-established nanofabrication techniques. This approach provides a path to deep-subwavelength routing of information-carrying beams and far-field imaging unencumbered by diffraction and reflection.

(photonic resonance) and the plasmonic response of the spheres (plasmonic resonance). In particular the couplings between the photonic and plasmonic modes are studied. In periodic arrays this coupling leads to the formation of a so called photonic-plasmonic hybrid mode. The formation of hybrid modes is studied in quasicrystalline arrays. Quasicrystalline structures in essence possess several periodicities which in some cases can lead to the formation of multiple hybrid modes with wider bandwidths. It is also demonstrated that the performance of these arrays can be further enhanced by employing a perturbation method. The second property considered is local field enhancements in quasicrystalline arrays of gold nanospheres. It will be shown that despite a considerably smaller filling factor quasicrystalline arrays generate larger local field enhancements which can be even further enhanced by optimally placing perturbing spheres within the prototiles that comprise the aperiodic arrays. The second thrust of research in this dissertation focuses on designing all-dielectric filters and metamaterial coatings for the optical range. In higher frequencies metals tend to have a high loss and thus they are not suitable for many applications. Hence dielectrics are used for applications in optical frequencies. In particular we focus on designing two types of structures. First a near-perfect optical mirror is designed. The design is based on optimizing a subwavelength periodic dielectric grating to obtain appropriate effective parameters that will satisfy the desired perfect mirror condition. Second, a broadband anti-reflective all-dielectric grating with wide field of view is designed. The second design is based on a new computationally efficient genetic algorithm (GA) optimization method which shapes the sidewalls of the grating based on optimizing the roots of polynomial functions.

Opticalmetamaterials and nanoplasmonics bridge the gap between conventional optics and the nanoworld. Exciting and technologically important capabilities range from subwavelength focusing and stopped light to invisibility cloaking, with applications across science and engineering from biophotonics to nanocircuitry. A problem that has hampered practical implementations have been dissipative metal losses, but the efficient use of optical gain has been shown to compensate these and to allow for loss-free operation, amplification and nanoscopic lasing. Here, we review recent and ongoing progress in the realm of active, gain-enhanced nanoplasmonic metamaterials. On introducing and expounding the underlying theoretical concepts of the complex interaction between plasmons and gain media, we examine the experimental efforts in areas such as nanoplasmonic and metamaterial lasers. We underscore important current trends that may lead to improved active imaging, ultrafast nonlinearities on the nanoscale or cavity-free lasing in the stopped-light regime.

Developments in nanotechnology and material science have produced optical materials with astonishing properties. Theory and experimentation have demonstrated that, among other properties, the law of refraction is reversed at an interface between a naturally occurring material and these so-called metamaterials. As the technology advances metamaterials have the potential to vastly impact the field of optical science. In this study we provide a foundation for future work in the area of geometric optics and lens design with metamaterials. The concept of negative refraction is extended to derive a comprehensive set of first-order imaging principles as well as an exhaustive aberration theory to 4th order. Results demonstrate congruence with the classical theory; however, negative refraction introduces a host of novel properties. In terms of aberration theory, metamaterials present the lens designer with increased flexibility. A singlet can be bent to produce either positive or negative spherical aberration (regardless of its focal length), its contribution to coma can become independent of its conjugate factor, and its field curvature takes on the opposite sign of its focal power. This is shown to be advantageous in some designs such as a finite conjugate relay lens; however, in a wider field of view landscape lens we demonstrate a metamaterial's aberration properties may be detrimental. This study presents the first comprehensive investigation of metamaterial lenses using industry standard lens design software. A formal design study evaluates the performance of doublet and triplet lenses operating at F/5 with a 100 mm focal length, a 20° half field of view, and specific geometric constraints. Computer aided optimization and performance evaluation provide experimental controls to remove designer-induced bias from the results. Positive-index lenses provide benchmarks for comparison to metamaterial systems subjected to identical design constraints. We find that

Gradient Index (GRIN) metamaterials have been used to create devices inspired by, but often surpassing the potential of, conventional GRIN optics. The unit-cell nature of metamaterials presents the opportunity to exert much greater control over spatial gradients than is possible in natural materials. This is true not only during the design phase but also offers the potential for real-time reconfiguration of the metamaterial gradient. This ability fits nicely into the picture of transformation-optics, in which spatial gradients can enable an impressive suite of innovative devices. We discuss methods to exert control over metamaterial response, focusing on our recent demonstrations using Vanadium Dioxide. We give special attention to role of memristance and mem-capacitance observed in Vanadium Dioxide, which simplify the demands of stimuli and addressing, as well as intersecting metamaterials with the field of memory-materials.

Metallic woodpile photonic crystals and metamaterials operating across the visible spectrum are extremely difficult to construct over large areas, because of the intricate three-dimensional nanostructures and sub-50 nm features demanded. Previous routes use electron-beam lithography or direct laser writing but widespread application is restricted by their expense and low throughput. Scalable approaches including soft lithography, colloidal self-assembly, and interference holography, produce structures limited in feature size, material durability, or geometry. By multiply stacking gold nanowire flexible gratings, we demonstrate a scalable high-fidelity approach for fabricating flexible metallic woodpile photonic crystals, with features down to 10 nm produced in bulk and at low cost. Control of stacking sequence, asymmetry, and orientation elicits great control, with visible-wavelength band-gap reflections exceeding 60%, and with strong induced chirality. Such flexible and stretchable architectures can produce metamaterials with refractive index near zero, and are easily tuned across the IR and visible ranges.

The polarization of light can be rotated in materials with an absence of molecular or structural mirror symmetry. While this rotating ability is normally rather weak in naturally occurring chiral materials, artificial chiral metamaterials have demonstrated extraordinary rotational ability by engineering intra-molecular couplings. However, while in general, chiral metamaterials can exhibit strong rotatory power at or around resonances, they convert linearly polarized waves into elliptically polarized ones. Here, we demonstrate that strong inter-molecular coupling through a small gap between adjacent chiral metamolecules can lead to a broadband enhanced rotating ability with pure rotation of linearly polarized electromagnetic waves. Strong inter-molecular coupling leads to nearly identical behaviour in magnitude, but engenders substantial difference in phase between transmitted left and right-handed waves. PMID:25209452

In this paper we present our recent developments in terahertz (THz) metamaterials and devices. Planar THz metamaterials and their complementary structures fabricated on suitable substrates have shown electric resonant response, which causes the band-pass or band-stop property in THz transmission and reflection. The operational frequency can be further tuned up to 20% upon photoexcitation of an integrated semiconductor region in the splitring resonators as the metamaterial elements. On the other hand, the use of semiconductors as metamaterial substrates enables dynamical control of metamaterial resonances through photoexcitation, and reducing the substrate carrier lifetime further enables an ultrafast switching recovery. The metamaterial resonances can also be actively controlled by application of a voltage bias when they are fabricated on semiconductor substrates with appropriate doping concentration and thickness. Using this electrically driven approach, THz modulation depth up to 80% and modulation speed of 2 MHz at room temperature have been demonstrated, which suggests practical THz applications.

Metamaterials are artificially structured materials that can produce innovative optical functionalities such as negative refractive index, invisibility cloaking, and super-resolution imaging. Combining metamaterials with semiconductors enables us to develop novel optoelectronic devices based on the new concept of operation. Here we report the first experimental demonstration of a permeability-controlled waveguide optical modulator consisting of an InGaAsP/InP Mach-Zehnder interferometer with `tri-gate' metamaterial attached on its arms. The tri-gate metamaterial consists of metal resonator arrays and triple-gate field effect elements. It changes its permeability with a change in the controlling gate voltage, thereby changing the refractive index of the interferometer arm to switch the modulator with an extinction ratio of 6.9 dB at a wavelength of 1.55 μm. The result shows the feasibility of InP-based photonic integrated devices that can produce new functions by controlling their permeability as well as their permittivity.

Metamaterials are artificially structured materials that can produce innovative optical functionalities such as negative refractive index, invisibility cloaking, and super-resolution imaging. Combining metamaterials with semiconductors enables us to develop novel optoelectronic devices based on the new concept of operation. Here we report the first experimental demonstration of a permeability-controlled waveguide optical modulator consisting of an InGaAsP/InP Mach-Zehnder interferometer with ‘tri-gate’ metamaterial attached on its arms. The tri-gate metamaterial consists of metal resonator arrays and triple-gate field effect elements. It changes its permeability with a change in the controlling gate voltage, thereby changing the refractive index of the interferometer arm to switch the modulator with an extinction ratio of 6.9 dB at a wavelength of 1.55 μm. The result shows the feasibility of InP-based photonic integrated devices that can produce new functions by controlling their permeability as well as their permittivity. PMID:25797041

Metamaterials are artificially structured materials that can produce innovative optical functionalities such as negative refractive index, invisibility cloaking, and super-resolution imaging. Combining metamaterials with semiconductors enables us to develop novel optoelectronic devices based on the new concept of operation. Here we report the first experimental demonstration of a permeability-controlled waveguide optical modulator consisting of an InGaAsP/InP Mach-Zehnder interferometer with 'tri-gate' metamaterial attached on its arms. The tri-gate metamaterial consists of metal resonator arrays and triple-gate field effect elements. It changes its permeability with a change in the controlling gate voltage, thereby changing the refractive index of the interferometer arm to switch the modulator with an extinction ratio of 6.9 dB at a wavelength of 1.55 μm. The result shows the feasibility of InP-based photonic integrated devices that can produce new functions by controlling their permeability as well as their permittivity. PMID:25797041

We propose a nanostructured hyperbolic metamaterial (HMM) that can make the transition between elliptic and hyperbolic regimes in the near infrared (IR) frequency range. This switchable HMM is a slab made of a periodic stack of metal/Al(2)O(3)/graphene/Al(2)O(3)/metal nano-layers. By tuning the graphene conductivity via tuning its chemical potential, through a variable external bias, the response of this highly anisotropic medium to a monochromatic TM incident light can be switched between a positive/negative refraction regime and a negative refraction/no-transmission regime. The proposed structure is suitable for applications such as beam splitters, modulators, four-port devices, and optical gates. PMID:25968041

The nonlinear pulse propagation has been analytically studied by solving the nonlinear Schrödinger's equation (NLSE) in bulk media exhibiting frequency dependent dielectric permittivity(ɛ) and magnetic permeability(μ). The exact solutions obtained are shown to be of trigonometric & localized types. The analytical and simulation based method has been further extended to investigate the intensity distribution in a nonlinear meta-material which behaves as a negative refractive medium (NRM), where both ɛ and μ are shown to be dispersive and negative in nature.

The advent of negative index materials has spawned extensive research into metamaterials over the past decade. Metamaterials are attractive not only for their exotic electromagnetic properties, but also their promise for applications. A particular branch-the metamaterial perfect absorber (MPA)-has garnered interest due to the fact that it can achieve unity absorptivity of electromagnetic waves. Since its first experimental demonstration in 2008, the MPA has progressed significantly with designs shown across the electromagnetic spectrum, from microwave to optical. In this Progress Report we give an overview of the field and discuss a selection of examples and related applications. The ability of the MPA to exhibit extreme performance flexibility will be discussed and the theory underlying their operation and limitations will be established. Insight is given into what we can expect from this rapidly expanding field and future challenges will be addressed. PMID:22627995

Metallic woodpile photonic crystals and metamaterials operating across the visible spectrum are extremely difficult to construct over large areas, because of the intricate three-dimensional nanostructures and sub-50 nm features demanded. Previous routes use electron-beam lithography or direct laser writing but widespread application is restricted by their expense and low throughput. Scalable approaches including soft lithography, colloidal self-assembly, and interference holography, produce structures limited in feature size, material durability, or geometry. By multiply stacking gold nanowire flexible gratings, we demonstrate a scalable high-fidelity approach for fabricating flexible metallic woodpile photonic crystals, with features down to 10 nm produced in bulk and at low cost. Control of stacking sequence, asymmetry, and orientation elicits great control, with visible-wavelength band-gap reflections exceeding 60%, and with strong induced chirality. Such flexible and stretchable architectures can produce metamaterials with refractive index near zero, and are easily tuned across the IR and visible ranges. PMID:25660667

A mid-infrared tunable metamaterial comprises an array of resonators on a semiconductor substrate having a large dependence of dielectric function on carrier concentration and a semiconductor plasma resonance that lies below the operating range, such as indium antimonide. Voltage biasing of the substrate generates a resonance shift in the metamaterial response that is tunable over a broad operating range. The mid-infrared tunable metamaterials have the potential to become the building blocks of chip based active optical devices in mid-infrared ranges, which can be used for many applications, such as thermal imaging, remote sensing, and environmental monitoring.

Metamaterials with isotropic property have been shown to possess novel optical properties such as a negative refractive index that can be used to design a superlens. Recently, it was shown that metamaterials with anisotropic property can translate the high-frequency wave vector k values from evanescence to propagating. However, electromagnetic waves traveling in single-layer anisotropic metamaterial produce diverging waves of different spatial frequency. In this work, it is shown that, using bilayer metamaterials that have complementary anisotropic property, the diverging waves are recombined to produce a subwavelength image, i.e., a superlens device can be designed. The simulation further shows that the design can be achieved using a metal/oxide multilayer, and a resolution of 30 nm can be easily obtained in the optical frequency range.

Dual Fano resonances are realized in a nonlinear photonic metamaterial consisting of periodic arrays of asymmetrical meta-molecules etched in a gold film coated with azobenzene polymer layer made of poly[(methyl methacrylate)-co-(disperse red 13 acrylate)]. Enormously enhanced photoisomerization associated with resonant excitation brings about a large refractive index variation in the azobenzene polymer. Under excitation of a weak pump light as low as 0.61 kW/cm{sup 2}, a large shift of 50 nm in the Fano resonance wavelength is obtained. Compared with previous reports, the threshold pump intensity is reduced by seven orders of magnitude while a large tunability is maintained simultaneously.

Using conventional materials, the resolution of focusing and imaging devices is limited by diffraction to about half the wavelength of light, as high spatial frequencies do not propagate in isotropic materials. Wire array metamaterials, because of their extreme anisotropy, can beat this limit; however, focusing with these has only been demonstrated up to microwave frequencies and using propagation over a few wavelengths only. Here we show that the principle can be scaled to frequencies orders of magnitudes higher and to considerably longer propagation lengths. We demonstrate imaging through straight and tapered wire arrays operating in the terahertz spectrum, with unprecedented propagation of near field information over hundreds of wavelengths and focusing down to 1/28 of the wavelength with a net increase in power density. Applications could include in vivo terahertz-endoscopes with resolution compatible with imaging individual cells. PMID:24162458

Terahertz metamaterials comprise a periodic array of resonator elements disposed on a dielectric substrate or thin membrane, wherein the resonator elements have a structure that provides a tunable magnetic permeability or a tunable electric permittivity for incident electromagnetic radiation at a frequency greater than about 100 GHz and the periodic array has a lattice constant that is smaller than the wavelength of the incident electromagnetic radiation. Microfabricated metamaterials exhibit lower losses and can be assembled into three-dimensional structures that enable full coupling of incident electromagnetic terahertz radiation in two or three orthogonal directions. Furthermore, polarization sensitive and insensitive metamaterials at terahertz frequencies can enable new devices and applications.

Mechanical metamaterials can have topologically protected states, much like their electronic and optical counterparts. We recently demonstrated this in experiment by building a meta-material composed of coupled gyroscopes on a honeycomb lattice. This system breaks time-reversal symmetry and exhibits topologically protected one-way edge modes. In this talk we will explore the relationship between the topology of the band structure and the geometry of the lattice.

The ideal material for nanophotonic applications will have a large refractive index at optical frequencies, respond to both the electric and magnetic fields of light, support large optical chirality and anisotropy, confine and guide light at the nanoscale, and be able to modify the phase and amplitude of incoming radiation in a fraction of a wavelength. Artificial electromagnetic media, or metamaterials, based on metallic or polar dielectric nanostructures can provide many of these properties by coupling light to free electrons (plasmons) or phonons (phonon polaritons), respectively, but at the inevitable cost of significant energy dissipation and reduced device efficiency. Recently, however, there has been a shift in the approach to nanophotonics. Low-loss electromagnetic responses covering all four quadrants of possible permittivities and permeabilities have been achieved using completely transparent and high-refractive-index dielectric building blocks. Moreover, an emerging class of all-dielectric metamaterials consisting of anisotropic crystals has been shown to support large refractive index contrast between orthogonal polarizations of light. These advances have revived the exciting prospect of integrating exotic electromagnetic effects in practical photonic devices, to achieve, for example, ultrathin and efficient optical elements, and realize the long-standing goal of subdiffraction confinement and guiding of light without metals. In this Review, we present a broad outline of the whole range of electromagnetic effects observed using all-dielectric metamaterials: high-refractive-index nanoresonators, metasurfaces, zero-index metamaterials and anisotropic metamaterials. Finally, we discuss current challenges and future goals for the field at the intersection with quantum, thermal and silicon photonics, as well as biomimetic metasurfaces.

The ideal material for nanophotonic applications will have a large refractive index at optical frequencies, respond to both the electric and magnetic fields of light, support large optical chirality and anisotropy, confine and guide light at the nanoscale, and be able to modify the phase and amplitude of incoming radiation in a fraction of a wavelength. Artificial electromagnetic media, or metamaterials, based on metallic or polar dielectric nanostructures can provide many of these properties by coupling light to free electrons (plasmons) or phonons (phonon polaritons), respectively, but at the inevitable cost of significant energy dissipation and reduced device efficiency. Recently, however, there has been a shift in the approach to nanophotonics. Low-loss electromagnetic responses covering all four quadrants of possible permittivities and permeabilities have been achieved using completely transparent and high-refractive-index dielectric building blocks. Moreover, an emerging class of all-dielectric metamaterials consisting of anisotropic crystals has been shown to support large refractive index contrast between orthogonal polarizations of light. These advances have revived the exciting prospect of integrating exotic electromagnetic effects in practical photonic devices, to achieve, for example, ultrathin and efficient optical elements, and realize the long-standing goal of subdiffraction confinement and guiding of light without metals. In this Review, we present a broad outline of the whole range of electromagnetic effects observed using all-dielectric metamaterials: high-refractive-index nanoresonators, metasurfaces, zero-index metamaterials and anisotropic metamaterials. Finally, we discuss current challenges and future goals for the field at the intersection with quantum, thermal and silicon photonics, as well as biomimetic metasurfaces. PMID:26740041

In this study, nano-layered Al:ZnO/ZnO hyperbolic dispersion metamaterial with a large number of layers was fabricated using the atomic layer deposition (ALD) technique. Experimental dielectric functions for Al:ZnO/ZnO structures are obtained by an ellipsometry technique in the visible and near-infrared spectral ranges. The theoretical modeling of the Al:ZnO/ZnO dielectric permittivity is done using effective medium approximation. A method for analysis of spectroscopic ellipsometry data is demonstrated to extract the optical permittivity for this highly anisotropic nano-layered metamaterial. The results of the ellipsometry analysis show that Al:ZnO/ZnO structures with a 1:9 ALD cycle ratio exhibit hyperbolic dispersion transition change near 1.8more » μm wavelength.« less

Nano-layered Al:ZnO/ZnO hyperbolic dispersion metamaterial with a large number of layers was fabricated using the atomic layer deposition (ALD) technique. Experimental dielectric functions for Al:ZnO/ZnO structures are obtained by an ellipsometry technique in the visible and near-infrared spectral ranges. The theoretical modeling of the Al:ZnO/ZnO dielectric permittivity is done using effective medium approximation. A method for analysis of spectroscopic ellipsometry data is demonstrated to extract the optical permittivity for this highly anisotropic nano-layered metamaterial. The results of the ellipsometry analysis show that Al:ZnO/ZnO structures with a 1:9 ALD cycle ratio exhibit hyperbolic dispersion transition change near 1.8 μm wavelength. PMID:27139865

Theoretical investigation of photonic band gaps or reflection bands in one-dimensional annular photonic crystal (APC) containing double negative (DNG) metamaterials and air has been presented. The proposed structure consists of the alternate layers of dispersive DNG material and air immersed in free space. In order to study photonic band gaps we obtain the reflectance spectrum of the annular PC by employing the transfer matrix method (TMM) in the cylindrical waves for both TE and TM polarizations. In this work we study the effect of azimuthal mode number (m) and starting radius (ρ0) on the three band gaps viz. zero averaged refractive index (zero-nbar) gap, zero permittivity (zero- ε) and zero permeability (zero- μ) gaps. It is found that for m ≥ 1 , zero- μ gap appears in TE mode and zero- ε gap appears in TM mode. The width of both zero- μ and zero- ε gap increases by increasing m values, but the enhancement of zero- μ gap is more appreciable. Also, the effect of ρ0 on the three band gaps (reflection bands) of annular PC structure at the given m-number has been studied, for both TE and TM polarizations. The result shows that in both polarizations zero- ε and zero- μ gaps decreases when ρ0 increases, whereas zero-nbar gap remains invariant.

Metal-dielectric multilayered metamaterials are proposed to work as wideband spectral-selective emitters/absorbers due to the topological change in isofrequency contour around the epsilon-near-zero point. By setting the transition at the border between the visible and IR ranges, the metal-dielectric multilayered metamaterials become good absorbers/emitters for visible light and good reflectors for IR light, which are desirable for efficient thermal-light interconversions. PMID:26891165

Coarse-grained Monte Carlo/molecular dynamic calculations are employed to explore the effect of various of intermolecular electrostatic interactions upon chromophore order, lattice dimensionality, and viscoelasticity in electrically-poled organic second order nonlinear optical materials. The following classes of organic macromolecular materials are considered: (1) Chromophore-polymer composites, (2) chromophores covalently incorporated into polymers and dendrimers, (3) chromophores incorporating additional dipolar or quadrupolar interactions that enhance poling efficiency, and (4) binary chromophore materials. For chromophore-polymer composites, the competition of chromophore-chromophore dipolar interactions and nuclear repulsive (steric) interactions define poling-induced acentric order. For covalently incorporated chromophores, covalent bond potentials also influence poling-induced order. These first two classes of materials basically behave as Langevin (3-D) lattice materials. Dipolar (e.g., coumarin) and quadrupolar (arene-perfluoroarene) interactions act to influence lattice dimensionality and thus enhance poling efficiency (the ratio of electro-optic activity to electric poling field strength). The long-range molecular cooperativity associated with these interactions influences viscoelastic properties critical to material processing and integration into silicon photonic, plasmonic, and metamaterial devices. The interaction between different chromophore species in binary chromophore materials also enhances poling efficiency. Polarized laser radiation applied to certain binary chromophore materials can also be used to enhance poling efficiency through control of lattice dimensionality. Poling efficiency approaching 5 (nm/V)2 has been achieved for these latter two classes of materials. Improvement in poling efficiency and control of material viscosity is particular important for integration of organic materials into complex device structures.

A wavelength-tunable, depletion-type infrared metamaterialoptical device is provided. The device includes a thin, highly doped epilayer whose electrical permittivity can become negative at some infrared wavelengths. This highly-doped buried layer optically couples with a metamaterial layer. Changes in the transmission spectrum of the device can be induced via the electrical control of this optical coupling. An embodiment includes a contact layer of semiconductor material that is sufficiently doped for operation as a contact layer and that is effectively transparent to an operating range of infrared wavelengths, a thin, highly doped buried layer of epitaxially grown semiconductor material that overlies the contact layer, and a metallized layer overlying the buried layer and patterned as a resonant metamaterial.

The ability to render objects invisible with a cloak that fits all objects and sizes is a long-standing goal for optical devices. Invisibility devices demonstrated so far typically comprise a rigid structure wrapped around an object to which it is fitted. Here we demonstrate smart metamaterial cloaking, wherein the metamaterial device not only transforms electromagnetic fields to make an object invisible, but also acquires its properties automatically from its own elastic deformation. The demonstrated device is a ground-plane microwave cloak composed of an elastic metamaterial with a broad operational band (10-12 GHz) and nearly lossless electromagnetic properties. The metamaterial is uniform, or perfectly periodic, in its undeformed state and acquires the necessary gradient-index profile, mimicking a quasi-conformal transformation, naturally from a boundary load. This easy-to-fabricate hybrid elasto-electromagnetic metamaterial opens the door to implementations of a variety of transformation optics devices based on quasi-conformal maps. PMID:23169054

Using a scanning near-field optical microscope operating with a hyperspectral detection scheme, we report the direct observation of the mirage effect within an on-chip integrated artificial material made of a two dimensional graded photonic crystal. The light rainbow due to the material dispersion is quantified experimentally and quantitatively compared to three dimensional plane wave assisted Hamiltonian optics predictions of light propagation.

An optical illusion is an image of a real target perceived by the eye that is deceptive or misleading due to a physiological illusion or a specific visual trick. The recently developed metamaterials provide efficient approaches to generate a perfect optical illusion. However, all existing research on metamaterial illusions has been limited to theory and numerical simulations. Here, we propose the concept of a radar illusion, which can make the electromagnetic (EM) image of a target gathered by radar look like a different target, and we realize a radar illusion device experimentally to change the radar image of a metallic target into a dielectric target with predesigned size and material parameters. It is well known that the radar signatures of metallic and dielectric objects are significantly different. However, when a metallic target is enclosed by the proposed illusion device, its EM scattering characteristics will be identical to that of a predesigned dielectric object under the illumination of radar waves. Such an illusion device will confuse the radar, and hence the real EM properties of the metallic target cannot be perceived. We designed and fabricated the radar illusion device using artificial metamaterials in the microwave frequency, and good illusion performances are observed in the experimental results. PMID:21405918

Plasmonic metamaterials designed for optical frequency have to be shrunk down to few 10th of nanometer which turns their manufacturing cumbersome. Here, we shift the performance of metamaterial down to ultraviolet (UV) by using ultrathin nanocomposite as a tunable plasmonic metamaterial fabricated with tandem co-deposition. It provides the possibility to realize a plasmonic metamaterial absorber for UV frequency with marginal angle sensitivity. Its resonance frequency and intensity can be adjusted by changing thickness and filling factor of the composite. Presented approach for tunable metamaterials for high frequency could pave the way for their application for thermo-photovoltaic, stealth technology, and UV-protective coating.

Direct writing using a focused electron beam allows for fabricating truly three-dimensional structures of sub-wavelength dimensions in the visible spectral regime. The resulting sophisticated geometries are perfectly suited for studying light-matter interaction at the nanoscale. Their overall optical response will strongly depend not only on geometry but also on the optical properties of the deposited material. In the case of the typically used metal-organic precursors, the deposits show a substructure of metallic nanocrystals embedded in a carbonaceous matrix. Since gold-containing precursor media are especially interesting for optical applications, we experimentally determine the effective permittivity of such an effective material. Our experiment is based on spectroscopic measurements of planar deposits. The retrieved permittivity shows a systematic dependence on the gold particle density and cannot be sufficiently described using the common Maxwell-Garnett approach for effective medium.

Direct writing using a focused electron beam allows for fabricating truly three-dimensional structures of sub-wavelength dimensions in the visible spectral regime. The resulting sophisticated geometries are perfectly suited for studying light-matter interaction at the nanoscale. Their overall optical response will strongly depend not only on geometry but also on the optical properties of the deposited material. In the case of the typically used metal-organic precursors, the deposits show a substructure of metallic nanocrystals embedded in a carbonaceous matrix. Since gold-containing precursor media are especially interesting for optical applications, we experimentally determine the effective permittivity of such an effective material. Our experiment is based on spectroscopic measurements of planar deposits. The retrieved permittivity shows a systematic dependence on the gold particle density and cannot be sufficiently described using the common Maxwell-Garnett approach for effective medium. PMID:26629782

Mirror-on-mirror platforms based on arrays of metallic nanoparticles, arranged top-down or self-assembled on a thin metallic film, have interesting optical properties. Interaction of localized surface-plasmons in nanoparticles with propagating surface-plasmons in the film underpins the exotic features of such platforms. Here, we present a comprehensive theoretical framework which emulates such a system using a five-layer-stack model and calculate its reflectance, transmittance, and absorbance spectra. The theory rests on dipolar quasi-static approximations incorporating image-forces and effective medium theory. Systematically tested against full-wave simulations, this simple approach proves to be adequate within its obvious applicability limits. It is used to study optical signals as a function of nanoparticle dimensions, interparticle separation, metal film thickness, the gap between the film and nanoparticles, and incident light characteristics. Several peculiar features are found, e.g., quenching of reflectivity in certain frequency domains or shift of the reflectivity spectra. Schemes are proposed to tailor those as functions of the mentioned parameters. Calculating the system's optical responses in seconds, as compared to much longer running simulations, this theory helps to momentarily unravel the role of each system parameter in light reflection, transmission, and absorption, facilitating thereby the design and optimisation of novel mirror-on-mirror systems. PMID:27406066

We use split ring resonators (SRRs) at optical frequencies to study strong coupling between planar metamaterials and phonon vibrations in nanometer-scale dielectric layers. A series of SRR metamaterials were fabricated on a semiconductor wafer with a thin intervening SiO{sub 2} dielectric layer. The dimensions of the SRRs were varied to tune the fundamental metamaterial resonance across the infrared (IR) active phonon band of SiO{sub 2} at 130 meV (31 THz). Strong anticrossing of these resonances was observed, indicative of strong coupling between metamaterial and phonon excitations. This coupling is very general and can occur with any electrically polarizable resonance including phonon vibrations in other thin film materials and semiconductor band-to-band transitions in the near to far IR. These effects may be exploited to reduce loss and to create unique spectral features that are not possible with metamaterials alone.

Metamaterials have attracted unprecedented attention owing to their exceptional light-matter interaction properties. However, harnessing metamaterial at single photon or few photon excitations is still a long way to go due to several critical challenges such as optical loss, defects to name a few. Here we introduce and theoretically demonstrate a novel platform toward quantum metamaterial, immune to aforementioned challenges, with ultra-cold neutral atoms trapped in an artificial crystal of light. Such periodic atomic density grating -an atomic lattice- exhibits extreme anisotropic optical response where it behaves like a metal in one direction but dielectric along orthogonal directions. We harness the interacting dark resonance physics to eliminate the absorption loss and demonstrate an all-optical and ultra-fast control over the photonic topological transition from a close to an open topology at the same frequency. Such atomic lattice quantum metamaterial enables dynamic manipulation of the decay rate of a quantum emitter by more than an order of magnitude. Our proposal brings together two important contemporary realm of science - cold atom physics and metamaterial for applications in both fundamental and applied science. Atomic lattice quantum metamaterial may provide new opportunities, at single or few photon level, for quantum sensing, quantum information processing with metamaterials.

Subwavelength metallic structures capable of creating strongly localized electromagnetic field with enormous enhancement under illumination/excitation are designed for direct radio frequency (RF) imaging. Three dimensional finite element method models are applied to investigate the electromagnetic field concentrations of two types of split ring resonators. Under appropriate linearly polarized illumination, a highly confined field located at the gap of the ring resonator is found due to strong scattering resonance. The numerical studies show that field enhancement as high as 6,800 is achieved for a planar D-shaped split ring resonator. The enhancement can be further increased through shrinking the gaps size or the ring width. Crescent shaped split ring resonator is designed for broadband application. It provides an enhanced bandwidth which is 1.15 times of the resonant frequency. The concentrated electromagnetic field facilitates nonlinear processes that find lots of applications. Optimized RF concentrators integrated with electro-optic modulators are demonstrated to directly modulate optical carrier. The combination of RF concentrator and EO modulator could enable a focal plane RF imager array that allows direct RF imaging, and significantly decrease RF aperture size and weight. Additional benefits include enhanced functionality such as inherent polarimetric imaging capability.

Vanadium dioxide (VO2) is known to have a semiconductor-to-metal phase transition at ˜68 °C. Therefore, it can be used as a tunable component of an active metamaterial. The lamellar metamaterial studied in this work is composed of subwavelength VO2 and Au layers and is designed to undergo a temperature controlled transition from the optical hyperbolic phase to the metallic phase. VO2 films and VO2/Au lamellar metamaterial stacks have been fabricated and studied in electrical conductivity and optical (transmission and reflection) experiments. The observed temperature-dependent changes in the reflection and transmission spectra of the metamaterials and VO2 thin films are in a good qualitative agreement with theoretical predictions. The demonstrated optical hyperbolic-to-metallic phase transition is a unique physical phenomenon with the potential to enable advanced control of light-matter interactions.

Recent developments in the field of metamaterials have revealed unparalleled opportunities for “engineering” space for light propagation; opening a new paradigm in spin- and quantum-related phenomena in optical physics. Here we show that unique optical properties of metamaterials (MMs) open unlimited prospects to “engineer” light itself. We propose and demonstrate for the first time a novel way of complex light manipulation in few-mode optical fibers using optical MMs. Most importantly, these studies highlight how unique properties of MMs, namely the ability to manipulate both electric and magnetic field components of electromagnetic (EM) waves, open new degrees of freedom in engineering complex polarization states of light at will, while preserving its orbital angular momentum (OAM) state. These results lay the first steps in manipulating complex light in optical fibers, likely providing new opportunities for high capacity communication systems, quantum information, and on-chip signal processing. PMID:24084836

Plasmonic or metamaterial nanostructures are usually fabricated on rigid substrate i.e. glass, silicon. Optical functionality of such kinds of nanostructures is limited by the planar surface and thus sensitive to the incident angle of light. In this work, we demonstrated that a tri-layer flexible metamaterials working at near infrared (NIR) regime can be fabricated on transparent PET substrate using flip chip transfer (FCT) technique. FCT technique is solution-free and can also be applied to fabricate other functional nanostructures device on flexible substrate. We demonstrated NIR metamaterial device can be transformed into various shapes by bending the PET substrate. PMID:22274363

Terahertz (THz) transmission modulation through copper phthalocyanine (CuPc)-coated Si under various laser light irradiation conditions was investigated using THz time-domain spectroscopy. The charge carrier transfer from Si to CuPc is crucial for photo-induced metallization, and the thickness of the CuPc layer is a critical parameter for achieving high charge carrier density for metallization. Transmission through a split-ring resonator array metamaterial, fabricated on CuPc-coated Si, can be efficiently modulated by laser light irradiation. Our findings may open the way for various types of metamaterials using organic conjugated materials that are suitable for easy device fabrication using printing technologies. PMID:24322092

We demonstrate that spatial arrangement and optical properties of metamaterial nanostructures can be controlled dynamically using currents and magnetic fields. Mechanical deformation of metamaterial arrays is driven by both resistive heating of bimorph nanostructures and the Lorentz force that acts on charges moving in a magnetic field. With electrically controlled transmission changes of up to 50% at sub-mW power levels, our approaches offer high contrast solutions for dynamic control of metamaterial functionalities in optoelectronic devices.

We introduce the photonic analog of electronic van Hove singularities (VHS) in artificial media (metamaterials) with hyperbolic dispersion. Unlike photonic and electronic crystals, the VHS in metamaterials are unrelated to the underlying periodicity and occur due to slow-light modes in the structure. We show that the VHS characteristics are manifested in the near-field local density of optical states in spite of the losses, dispersion, and finite unit-cell size of the hyperbolic metamaterial. Finally, we show that this work should lead to quantum, thermal, nanolasing, and biosensing applications of van Hove singularities in hyperbolic metamaterials achievable by current fabrication technology.

We reveal an outstanding potential of water as an inexpensive, abundant and bio-friendly high-refractive-index material for creating tunable all-dielectric photonic structures and metamaterials. Specifically, we demonstrate thermal, mechanical and gravitational tunability of magnetic and electric resonances in a metamaterial consisting of periodically positioned water-filled reservoirs. The proposed water-based metamaterials can find applications not only as cheap and ecological microwave devices, but also in optical and terahertz metamaterials prototyping and educational lab equipment. PMID:26311410

We present a theory for the photoluminescence (PL) and spontaneous emission of semiconductor nanoparticles (quantum dots—QDS) doped in a metamaterial heterostructure. The heterostructure is formed by fabricating a split-ring resonator and metallic rod metamaterial on a dielectric substrate. QDs are doped near the interface in the heterostructure. Our results indicate that the PL and spontaneous emission of the QDs are enhanced in the presence of the metamaterial when the exciton and surface plasmon frequencies are resonant. These findings are consistent with recent experimental studies. The present study can be used to make new types of nanoscale optical devices for sensing, switching and imaging applications based on metamaterials.

We propose a design and numerical study of an optically switchable metamaterial absorber in the terahertz regime. The metamaterial absorber comprises a periodic array of metallic split-ring resonators sitting back to back with an embedded semiconductor silicon. Filing the gap between the resonator arms with a semiconductor (silicon), leads to easy modification of its optical response through a pump beam which changes conductivity of Si. The conductivity of silicon is a function of incident pump power. Therefore, the resonance frequencies of the metamaterial can be tunable by applying an external pump power. The resonance peak of the absorption spectra shows a shift from 1.17 to 0.68 THz via external optical stimulus, with granting a resonance tuning range on the order of 42%. The optical-tuned absorber has potential applications as a terahertz modulator and switchable device and offer a step forward in filling the "THz gap".

We numerically and experimentally demonstrate engineered electromagnetic responses from a single-peak Fano resonance to a fast roll-off behavior by using planar metamaterials, which are constructed by bilayered asymmetrically split rings (ASRs) with twist angles of 0° and 180°. Since each single-layer ASR metamaterial reveals a Fano-type resonance, the dramatic transmission properties are resulted from the hybridization of electromagnetic resonances due to the near-field coupling between two Fano resonances and the far-field retardation effect of the bilayered metamaterials. The surface currents and charges distributions provide an insight into deep understanding of in-phase and out-of-phase coupling of two Fano resonances. The measured and simulated results of bilayered metamaterials agree well to each other. Especially, the proposed metamaterials can be exploited to design metamaterial-based devices in the THz and optical ranges like filters and sensors.

Condensed matter systems with topological order and metamaterials with left-handed chirality have attracted recently extensive interests in the fields of physics and optics. So far the topological order and chirality of electromagnetic wave are two independent concepts, and there is no work to address their connection. Here we propose to establish the relation between the topological order in condensed matter systems and the chirality in metamaterials, by mapping explicitly Maxwell's equations to the Dirac equation in one dimension. We report an experimental implement of the band inversion in the Dirac equation, which accompanies change of chirality of electromagnetic wave in metamaterials, and the first microwave measurement of topological excitations and topological phases in one dimension. Our finding provides a proof-of-principle example that electromagnetic wave in the metamaterials can be used to simulate the topological order in condensed matter systems and quantum phenomena in relativistic quantum mechanics in a controlled laboratory environment. PMID:24452532

Condensed matter systems with topological order and metamaterials with left-handed chirality have attracted recently extensive interests in the fields of physics and optics. So far the topological order and chirality of electromagnetic wave are two independent concepts, and there is no work to address their connection. Here we propose to establish the relation between the topological order in condensed matter systems and the chirality in metamaterials, by mapping explicitly Maxwell's equations to the Dirac equation in one dimension. We report an experimental implement of the band inversion in the Dirac equation, which accompanies change of chirality of electromagnetic wave in metamaterials, and the first microwave measurement of topological excitations and topological phases in one dimension. Our finding provides a proof-of-principle example that electromagnetic wave in the metamaterials can be used to simulate the topological order in condensed matter systems and quantum phenomena in relativistic quantum mechanics in a controlled laboratory environment. PMID:24452532

Metamaterials are artificial effective media supporting propagating waves that derive their properties form the average response of deliberately designed and arranged, usually resonant scatterers with structural length-scales much smaller than the wavelength inside the material. Electromagnetic metamaterials are the most important implementation of metamaterials, which are made from deeply sub-wavelength electric, magnetic and chiral resonators and can be designed to work from radio frequencies all the way to visible light. Metamaterials have been major new development in physics and materials science over the last decade and are still attracting more interest as they enable us to create materials with unique properties like negative refraction, flat and super lenses, impedance matching eliminating reflection, perfect absorbers, deeply sub-wavelength sized wave guides and cavities, tunability, enhanced non-linearity and gain, chirality and huge optical activity, control of Casimir forces, and spontaneous emission, etc. In this talk, I will discuss the design, numerical simulation, and mathematical modeling of metamaterials. I will survey the current state of the art and discuss challenges, possible solutions and perspectives. In particular, the problem of dissipative loss and their possible compensation by incorporating spatially distributed gain in metamaterials. If the gain sub-system is strongly coupled to the sub-wavelength resonators of the metamaterial loss compensation and undamping of the resonant response of the metamaterials can occur. I will explore new, alternative dielectric low loss resonators for metamaterials as well as the potential of new conducting materials such as Graphene to replace metals as the conducting material in resonant metamaterials. Two dimensional metamaterials or metasurfaces, implementations of effective electromagnetic current sheets in which both electric and magnetic sheet conductivities are controlled by the average response

Mathematical expressions for the acoustic scattering, instantaneous (linear), and time-averaged (nonlinear) forces resulting from the interaction of a new type of Bessel beam, termed here a first-order non-diffracting Bessel trigonometric beam (FOBTB) with a sphere, are derived. The beam is termed "trigonometric" because of the dependence of its phase on the cosine function. The FOBTB is regarded as a superposition of two equi-amplitude first-order Bessel vortex (helicoidal) beams having a unit positive and negative order (known also as topological charge), respectively. The FOBTB is non-diffracting, possesses an axial null, a geometric phase, and has an azimuthal phase that depends on cos( ϕ± ϕ0), where ϕ0 is an initial arbitrary phase angle. Beam rotation around its wave propagation axis can be achieved by varying ϕ0. The 3D directivity patterns are computed, and the resulting modifications of the scattering are illustrated for a rigid sphere centered on the beam's axis and immersed in water. Moreover, the backward and forward acoustic scattering by a sphere vanish for all frequencies. The present paper will shed light on the novel scattering properties of an acoustical FOBTB by a sphere that may be useful in particle manipulation and entrapment, non-destructive/medical imaging, and may be extended to other potentially useful applications in optics and electromagnetism.

In this paper we present an overview of research in our group in terahertz (THz) metamaterials and their applications. We have developed a series of planar metamaterials operating at THz frequencies, all of which exhibit a strong resonant response. By incorporating natural materials, e.g. semiconductors, as the substrates or as critical regions of metamaterial elements, we are able to effectively control the metamaterial resonance by the application of external stimuli, e.g., photoexcitation and electrical bias. Such actively controllable metamaterials provide novel functionalities for solid-state device applications with unprecedented performance, such as THz spectroscopy, imaging, and many others.

We report the fabrication of artificial unidimensional crystals exhibiting an effective bulk second-order nonlinearity. The crystals are created by cycling atomic layer deposition of three dielectric materials such that the resulting metamaterial is noncentrosymmetric in the direction of the deposition. Characterization of the structures by second-harmonic generation Maker-fringe measurements shows that the main component of their nonlinear susceptibility tensor is about 5 pm/V, which is comparable to well-established materials and more than an order of magnitude greater than reported for a similar crystal [Appl. Phys. Lett.107, 121903 (2015)APPLAB0003-695110.1063/1.4931492]. Our demonstration opens new possibilities for second-order nonlinear effects on CMOS-compatible nanophotonic platforms. PMID:26565877

Plasmonics is a rapidly emerging platform for quantum state engineering with the potential for building ultra-compact and hybrid optoelectronic devices. Recent experiments have shown that despite the presence of decoherence and loss, photon statistics and entanglement can be preserved in single plasmonic systems. This preserving ability should carry over to plasmonic metamaterials, whose properties are the result of many individual plasmonic systems acting collectively, and can be used to engineer optical states of light. Here, we report an experimental demonstration of quantum state filtering, also known as entanglement distillation, using a metamaterial. We show that the metamaterial can be used to distill highly entangled states from less entangled states. As the metamaterial can be integrated with other optical components this work opens up the intriguing possibility of incorporating plasmonic metamaterials in on-chip quantum state engineering tasks. PMID:26670790

Extraordinary light rays propagating inside a hyperbolic metamaterial look similar to particle world lines in a 2+1 dimensional Minkowski spacetime [1]. Magnetic nanoparticles in a ferrofluid are known to form nanocolumns aligned along the magnetic field, so that a hyperbolic metamaterial may be formed at large enough nanoparticle concentration nH. Here we investigate optical properties of such a metamaterial just below nH. While on average such a metamaterial is elliptical, thermal fluctuations of nanoparticle concentration lead to transient formation of hyperbolic regions (3D Minkowski spacetimes) inside this metamaterial. Thus, thermal fluctuations in a ferrofluid look similar to creation and disappearance of individual Minkowski spacetimes (universes) in the cosmological multiverse. This theoretical picture is supported by experimental measurements of polarization-dependent optical transmission of a cobalt based ferrofluid at 1500 nm.

We have recently shown that graphene is unsuitable to replace metals in the current-carrying elements of metamaterials. At the other hand, experiments have demonstrated that a layer of graphene can modify the optical response of a metal-based metamaterial. Here we study this electromagnetic interaction between metamaterials and graphene. We show that the weak optical response of graphene can be modified dramatically by coupling to the strong resonant fields in metallic structures. A crucial element determining the interaction strength is the orientation of the resonant fields. If the resonant electric field is predominantly parallel to the graphene sheet (e.g., in a complementary split-ring metamaterial), the metamaterial’s resonance can be strongly damped. If the resonant field is predominantly perpendicular to the graphene sheet (e.g., in a wire-pair metamaterial), no significant interaction exists.

Plasmonics is a rapidly emerging platform for quantum state engineering with the potential for building ultra-compact and hybrid optoelectronic devices. Recent experiments have shown that despite the presence of decoherence and loss, photon statistics and entanglement can be preserved in single plasmonic systems. This preserving ability should carry over to plasmonic metamaterials, whose properties are the result of many individual plasmonic systems acting collectively, and can be used to engineer optical states of light. Here, we report an experimental demonstration of quantum state filtering, also known as entanglement distillation, using a metamaterial. We show that the metamaterial can be used to distill highly entangled states from less entangled states. As the metamaterial can be integrated with other optical components this work opens up the intriguing possibility of incorporating plasmonic metamaterials in on-chip quantum state engineering tasks. PMID:26670790

Extraordinary light rays propagating inside a hyperbolic metamaterial look similar to particle world lines in a 2 + 1 dimensional Minkowski spacetime. Magnetic nanoparticles in a ferrofluid are known to form nanocolumns aligned along the magnetic field, so that a hyperbolic metamaterial may be formed at large enough nanoparticle concentration nH. Here we investigate optical properties of such a metamaterial just below nH. While on average such a metamaterial is elliptical, thermal fluctuations of nanoparticle concentration lead to transient formation of hyperbolic regions (3D Minkowski spacetimes) inside this metamaterial. Thus, thermal fluctuations in a ferrofluid look similar to creation and disappearance of individual Minkowski spacetimes (universes) in the cosmological multiverse. This theoretical picture is supported by experimental measurements of polarization-dependent optical transmission of a cobalt based ferrofluid at 1500 nm. PMID:23787680

We present an demonstration of optically tunable metamaterial absorber at terahertz frequencies. The metamaterials are based on two split ring resonators (SSRs) that can be tuned by integrating photoconductive silicon into the metamaterial unit cell. Filing the gap between the resonator arm with a semiconductor (silicon), leads to easy modification of its optical response through a pump beam which changes conductivity of Si. The conductivity of silicon is a function of incident pump power. Therefore, the conductivity of silicon is tuned effectively by applying an external pump power. We demonstrate that a blueshift of the resonance frequency under illumination can be accomplished and a broadband switch of absorption frequencies varying from 0.68 to 1.41 THz, with a tuning range of 51.8%. The realization of broadband blueshift tunable metamaterial absorber offers opportunities for achieving switchable metamaterial absorber and could be implemented in terahertz devices to achieve additional functionalities.

We experimentally demonstrate a micromachined reconfigurable metamaterial with polarization independent characteristics for multiple resonances in terahertz spectral region. The metamaterial unit cell consists of eight out-of-plane deformable microcantilevers placed at each corner of an octagon ring. The octagon shaped unit cell geometry provides the desired rotational symmetry, while the out-of-plane movable cantilevers preserves the symmetry at different configurations of the metamaterial. The metamaterial is shown to provide polarization independent response for both electrical inductive-capacitive (eLC) resonance and dipolar resonance at all states of actuation. The proposed metamaterial has a switching range of 0.16 THz and 0.37 THz and a transmission intensity change of more than 0.2 and 0.7 for the eLC and dipolar resonances, respectively for both TE and TM modes. Further optimization of the metal layer thickness, provides an improvement of up to 80% modulation at 0.57 THz. The simultaneously tunable dual band isotropic metamaterial will enable the realization of high performance electro-optic devices that would facilitate numerous terahertz applications such as compressive terahertz imaging, miniaturized terahertz spectroscopy and next generation high speed wireless communication possible in the near future.

The trend toward creating metamaterials with spectral features at shorter wavelengths demands a concomitant decrease in the minimum feature size. Many fabrication techniques have been developed to meet this challenge, all of which must address competition between resolution and throughput. We fabricate metamaterials using atomic calligraphy, a technique that tackles both the throughput and resolution challenges, and present optical characterization of the metamaterials we fabricate. Atomic calligraphy is a microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) based moveable stencil used to fabricate nanostructures. We increase the throughput of this technique by using many stencils in parallel and work toward further enhancing throughput by using a stage system to step the MEMS and repeat fabrication over large areas. Finally, we characterize the infrared response of the metamaterials that we fabricated. This technology can be used to fabricate metamaterials on a host of substrates, including those that are chemically incompatible with or have topological features that preclude them from use with conventional nanofabrication techniques, such as mechanical scaffolds that enable tuning of the metamaterial spectral response. This work is funded by the DARPA A2P Program.

We experimentally demonstrate a micromachined reconfigurable metamaterial with polarization independent characteristics for multiple resonances in terahertz spectral region. The metamaterial unit cell consists of eight out-of-plane deformable microcantilevers placed at each corner of an octagon ring. The octagon shaped unit cell geometry provides the desired rotational symmetry, while the out-of-plane movable cantilevers preserves the symmetry at different configurations of the metamaterial. The metamaterial is shown to provide polarization independent response for both electrical inductive-capacitive (eLC) resonance and dipolar resonance at all states of actuation. The proposed metamaterial has a switching range of 0.16 THz and 0.37 THz and a transmission intensity change of more than 0.2 and 0.7 for the eLC and dipolar resonances, respectively for both TE and TM modes. Further optimization of the metal layer thickness, provides an improvement of up to 80% modulation at 0.57 THz. The simultaneously tunable dual band isotropic metamaterial will enable the realization of high performance electro-optic devices that would facilitate numerous terahertz applications such as compressive terahertz imaging, miniaturized terahertz spectroscopy and next generation high speed wireless communication possible in the near future. PMID:26115416

We experimentally demonstrate a micromachined reconfigurable metamaterial with polarization independent characteristics for multiple resonances in terahertz spectral region. The metamaterial unit cell consists of eight out-of-plane deformable microcantilevers placed at each corner of an octagon ring. The octagon shaped unit cell geometry provides the desired rotational symmetry, while the out-of-plane movable cantilevers preserves the symmetry at different configurations of the metamaterial. The metamaterial is shown to provide polarization independent response for both electrical inductive-capacitive (eLC) resonance and dipolar resonance at all states of actuation. The proposed metamaterial has a switching range of 0.16 THz and 0.37 THz and a transmission intensity change of more than 0.2 and 0.7 for the eLC and dipolar resonances, respectively for both TE and TM modes. Further optimization of the metal layer thickness, provides an improvement of up to 80% modulation at 0.57 THz. The simultaneously tunable dual band isotropic metamaterial will enable the realization of high performance electro-optic devices that would facilitate numerous terahertz applications such as compressive terahertz imaging, miniaturized terahertz spectroscopy and next generation high speed wireless communication possible in the near future. PMID:26115416

Layered semiconductor hyperbolic metamaterials for the mid-infrared are grown by molecular beam epitaxy using a single material system, doped and undoped InAs. The onset wavelength for metamaterial behavior can be tuned from 5.8μm to beyond 10μm, while the fill factor ranges from 0.25 to 0.75, resulting in designer optical behavior. The reflection and transmission behavior were studied by Fourier transform spectroscopy and modeled using effective medium theory. We also conducted a geometric optics experiment to demonstrate negative refraction of our materials. PMID:27137307

A hologram is an optical element storing phase and possibly amplitude information enabling the reconstruction of a three-dimensional image of an object by illumination and scattering of a coherent beam of light, and the image is generated at the same wavelength as the input laser beam. In recent years, it was shown that information can be stored in nanometric antennas giving rise to ultrathin components. Here we demonstrate nonlinear multilayer metamaterial holograms. A background free image is formed at a new frequency—the third harmonic of the illuminating beam. Using e-beam lithography of multilayer plasmonic nanoantennas, we fabricate polarization-sensitive nonlinear elements such as blazed gratings, lenses and other computer-generated holograms. These holograms are analysed and prospects for future device applications are discussed. PMID:27545581

A hologram is an optical element storing phase and possibly amplitude information enabling the reconstruction of a three-dimensional image of an object by illumination and scattering of a coherent beam of light, and the image is generated at the same wavelength as the input laser beam. In recent years, it was shown that information can be stored in nanometric antennas giving rise to ultrathin components. Here we demonstrate nonlinear multilayer metamaterial holograms. A background free image is formed at a new frequency-the third harmonic of the illuminating beam. Using e-beam lithography of multilayer plasmonic nanoantennas, we fabricate polarization-sensitive nonlinear elements such as blazed gratings, lenses and other computer-generated holograms. These holograms are analysed and prospects for future device applications are discussed. PMID:27545581

If electronics are ever to be completely replaced by optics, a significant possibility in the wake of the fiber revolution, it is likely that nonlinear materials will play a central and enabling role. Indeed, nonlinear optics is the study of the mechanisms through which light can change the nature and properties of matter and, as a corollary, how one beam or color of light can manipulate another or even itself within such a material. However, of the many barriers preventing such a lofty goal, the narrow and limited range of properties supported by nonlinear materials, and natural materials in general, stands at the forefront. Many industries have turned instead to artificial and composite materials, with homogenizable metamaterials representing a recent extension of such composites into the electromagnetic domain. In particular, the inclusion of nonlinear elements has caused metamaterials research to spill over into the field of nonlinear optics. Through careful design of their constituent elements, nonlinear metamaterials are capable of supporting an unprecedented range of interactions, promising nonlinear devices of novel design and scale. In this context, I cast the basic properties of nonlinear metamaterials in the conventional formalism of nonlinear optics. Using alternately transfer matrices and coupled mode theory, I develop two complementary methods for characterizing and designing metamaterials with arbitrary nonlinear properties. Subsequently, I apply these methods in numerical studies of several canonical metamaterials, demonstrating enhanced electric and magnetic nonlinearities, as well as predicting the existence of nonlinear magnetoelectric and off-diagonal nonlinear tensors. I then introduce simultaneous design of the linear and nonlinear properties in the context of phase matching, outlining five different metamaterial phase matching methods, with special emphasis on the phase matching of counter propagating waves in mirrorless parametric amplifiers

Within a decade of fruitful development, metamaterials became a prominent area of research, bridging theoretical and applied electrodynamics, electrical engineering and material science. Being man-made structures, metamaterials offer a particularly useful playground to develop interdisciplinary concepts. Here we demonstrate a novel principle in metamaterial assembly which integrates electromagnetic, mechanical, and thermal responses within their elements. Through these mechanisms, the conformation of the meta-molecules changes, providing a dual mechanism for nonlinearity and offering nonlinear chirality. Our proposal opens a wide road towards further developments of nonlinear metamaterials and photonic structures, adding extra flexibility to their design and control.

We demonstrate a holographic lithography for the fabrication of diverse metamaterial structures by using an optical prism. Cylindrical nanoshells, U-shaped resonator arrays, and double-split ring arrays are obtained experimentally by real time modulating the phase relation of the interference beams. This easy-to-use method may provide a roadway for the design and fabrication of future metamaterials requiring diverse structures for effectively manipulating electromagnetic properties at optical frequencies. PMID:18648445

We experimentally demonstrate a micro-electro-mechanically switchable near infrared complementary metamaterial absorber by integrating the metamaterial layer to be the out of plane movable microactuator. The metamaterial layer is electrostatically actuated by applying voltage across the suspended complementary metamaterial layer and the stationary bottom metallic reflector. Thus, the effective spacing between the metamaterial layer and bottom metal reflector is varied as a function of applied voltage. With the reduction of effective spacing between the metamaterial and reflector layers, a strong spectral blue shift in the peak absorption wavelength can be achieved. With spacing change of 300 nm, the spectral shift of 0.7 μm in peak absorption wavelength was obtained for near infrared spectral region. The electro-optic switching performance of the device was characterized, and a striking switching contrast of 1500% was achieved at 2.1 μm. The reported micro-electro-mechanically tunable complementary metamaterial absorber device can potentially enable a wide range of high performance electro-optical devices, such as continuously tunable filters, modulators, and electro-optic switches that form the key components to facilitate future photonic circuit applications.

Wave-matter interactions have long been investigated to discover unknown physical phenomena and exploited to achieve improved device performance throughout the electromagnetic spectrum ranging from quasi-static limit to microwave frequencies, and even at infrared and optical wavelengths. As a nascent but fast growing field, metamaterial technology, which relies on clusters of artificially engineered subwavelength structures, has been demonstrated to provide a wide variety of exotic electromagnetic properties unattainable in natural materials. This dissertation presents the research on novel anisotropic metamaterials for tailoring microwave radiation and infrared scattering of nanostructured thin films. First, a new inversion algorithm is proposed for retrieving the anisotropic effective medium parameters of a slab of metamaterial. Secondly, low-loss anisotropic metamaterial lenses and coatings are introduced for improving the gain and/or bandwidth for a variety of antennas. In particular, a quad-beam high-gain lens for a quarter-wave monopole, a low-profile grounded leaky metamaterial coating for slot antenna, and an ultra-thin anisotropic metamaterial bandwidth-enhancing coating for a quarter-wave monopole are experimentally demonstrated. In the infrared regime, novel nanostructured metamaterial free-standing thin-films, which are inherently anisotropic, are introduced for achieving exotic index properties and further for practical photonic devices. In particular, a low-loss near-infrared fishnet zero-index metamaterial, a dispersionengineered optically-thin, low-loss broadband metamaterial filter with a suppressed group delay fluctuation in the mid-infrared, and a conformal dual-band near-perfectly absorbing coating in the mid-infrared are experimentally demonstrated. These explorations show the great promise anisotropic metamaterials hold for the flexible manipulation of electromagnetic waves and their broad applicability in a wide spectrum range.

Phaseonium is a three-level Λ quantum system, in which a coherent microwave and an optical control (pump) beams can be used to actively modulate the dielectric response. Here we propose a new metamaterial structure comprising of a periodic array of triangular phaseonium metamolecules arranged as a trefoil. We present a computational study of the spatial distribution of magnetic and electric fields of the probe light and the corresponding transmission and reflection, for various parameters of the optical and microwave beams. For specific values of the probing frequencies and control fields, the phaseonium can display either metallic or dielectric optical response. We find that, in the metallic regime, the phaseonium metamaterial structure supports extremely large transmission, with optical amplification at large enough intensity of the microwave thanks to strong surface plasmon coupling; while, in the dielectric regime without microwave excitation, the transmission bandwidth can be tuned by varying the control beam intensity. Implementation of such phaseonium metamaterial structure in solid-state systems, such as patterned crystals doped with rare-earth elements or dielectric matrices embedded with quantum dots, could enable a new class of actively tunable quantum metamaterials. PMID:26879520

Phaseonium is a three-level Λ quantum system, in which a coherent microwave and an optical control (pump) beams can be used to actively modulate the dielectric response. Here we propose a new metamaterial structure comprising of a periodic array of triangular phaseonium metamolecules arranged as a trefoil. We present a computational study of the spatial distribution of magnetic and electric fields of the probe light and the corresponding transmission and reflection, for various parameters of the optical and microwave beams. For specific values of the probing frequencies and control fields, the phaseonium can display either metallic or dielectric optical response. We find that, in the metallic regime, the phaseonium metamaterial structure supports extremely large transmission, with optical amplification at large enough intensity of the microwave thanks to strong surface plasmon coupling; while, in the dielectric regime without microwave excitation, the transmission bandwidth can be tuned by varying the control beam intensity. Implementation of such phaseonium metamaterial structure in solid-state systems, such as patterned crystals doped with rare-earth elements or dielectric matrices embedded with quantum dots, could enable a new class of actively tunable quantum metamaterials.

Phaseonium is a three-level Λ quantum system, in which a coherent microwave and an optical control (pump) beams can be used to actively modulate the dielectric response. Here we propose a new metamaterial structure comprising of a periodic array of triangular phaseonium metamolecules arranged as a trefoil. We present a computational study of the spatial distribution of magnetic and electric fields of the probe light and the corresponding transmission and reflection, for various parameters of the optical and microwave beams. For specific values of the probing frequencies and control fields, the phaseonium can display either metallic or dielectric optical response. We find that, in the metallic regime, the phaseonium metamaterial structure supports extremely large transmission, with optical amplification at large enough intensity of the microwave thanks to strong surface plasmon coupling; while, in the dielectric regime without microwave excitation, the transmission bandwidth can be tuned by varying the control beam intensity. Implementation of such phaseonium metamaterial structure in solid-state systems, such as patterned crystals doped with rare-earth elements or dielectric matrices embedded with quantum dots, could enable a new class of actively tunable quantum metamaterials. PMID:26879520

We investigate the effects of hydrodynamic nonlocal response in hyperbolic metamaterials (HMMs), focusing on the experimentally realizable parameter regime where unit cells are much smaller than an optical wavelength but much larger than the wavelengths of the longitudinal pressure waves of the free-electron plasma in the metal constituents. We derive the nonlocal corrections to the effective material parameters analytically, and illustrate the noticeable nonlocal effects on the dispersion curves numerically. As an application, we find that the focusing characteristics of a HMM lens in the local-response approximation and in the hydrodynamic Drude model can differ considerably. In particular, the optimal frequency for imaging in the nonlocal theory is blueshifted with respect to that in the local theory. Thus, to detect whether nonlocal response is at work in a hyperbolic metamaterial, we propose to measure the near-field distribution of a hyperbolic metamaterial lens. PMID:23787690

We express the boundary conditions for TE and TM waves at the interfaces of an infinite planar slab of homogeneous metamaterial as certain point interactions and use them to compute the transfer matrix of the system. This allows us to demonstrate the omnidirectional reflectionlessness of Veselago's slab for waves of arbitrary wavelength, reveal the translational and reflection symmetry of this slab, explore the laser threshold condition and coherent perfect absorption for active negative-index metamaterials, introduce a point interaction modeling phase-conjugation, determine the corresponding antilinear transfer matrix, and offer a simple proof of the equivalence of Veselago's slab with a pair of parallel phase-conjugating plates. We also study the connection between certain optical setups involving metamaterials and a class of PT-symmetric quantum systems defined on wedge-shape contours in the complex plane. This provides a physical interpretation for the latter.

Being able to manipulate mass flow is critically important in a variety of physical processes in chemical and biomolecular science. For example, separation and catalytic systems, which requires precise control of mass diffusion, are crucial in the manufacturing of chemicals, crystal growth of semiconductors, waste recovery of biological solutes or chemicals, and production of artificial kidneys. Coordinate transformations and metamaterials are powerful methods to achieve precise manipulation of molecular diffusion. Here, we introduce a novel approach to obtain mass separation based on metamaterials that can sort chemical and biomolecular species by cloaking one compound while concentrating the other. A design strategy to realize such metamaterial using homogeneous isotropic materials is proposed. We present a practical case where a mixture of oxygen and nitrogen is manipulated using a metamaterial that cloaks nitrogen and concentrates oxygen. This work lays the foundation for molecular mass separation in biophysical and chemical systems through metamaterial devices. PMID:26912419

Being able to manipulate mass flow is critically important in a variety of physical processes in chemical and biomolecular science. For example, separation and catalytic systems, which requires precise control of mass diffusion, are crucial in the manufacturing of chemicals, crystal growth of semiconductors, waste recovery of biological solutes or chemicals, and production of artificial kidneys. Coordinate transformations and metamaterials are powerful methods to achieve precise manipulation of molecular diffusion. Here, we introduce a novel approach to obtain mass separation based on metamaterials that can sort chemical and biomolecular species by cloaking one compound while concentrating the other. A design strategy to realize such metamaterial using homogeneous isotropic materials is proposed. We present a practical case where a mixture of oxygen and nitrogen is manipulated using a metamaterial that cloaks nitrogen and concentrates oxygen. This work lays the foundation for molecular mass separation in biophysical and chemical systems through metamaterial devices. PMID:26912419

Being able to manipulate mass flow is critically important in a variety of physical processes in chemical and biomolecular science. For example, separation and catalytic systems, which requires precise control of mass diffusion, are crucial in the manufacturing of chemicals, crystal growth of semiconductors, waste recovery of biological solutes or chemicals, and production of artificial kidneys. Coordinate transformations and metamaterials are powerful methods to achieve precise manipulation of molecular diffusion. Here, we introduce a novel approach to obtain mass separation based on metamaterials that can sort chemical and biomolecular species by cloaking one compound while concentrating the other. A design strategy to realize such metamaterial using homogeneous isotropic materials is proposed. We present a practical case where a mixture of oxygen and nitrogen is manipulated using a metamaterial that cloaks nitrogen and concentrates oxygen. This work lays the foundation for molecular mass separation in biophysical and chemical systems through metamaterial devices.

Subwavelength-scale metal and dielectric nanostructures have served as important building blocks for electromagnetic metamaterials, providing unprecedented opportunities for manipulating the optical response of the matter. Recently, hyperbolic metamaterials have been drawing particular interest because of their unusual optical properties and functionalities, such as negative refraction and hyperlensing of light. Here, as a promising application of a hyperbolic metamaterial at visible frequency, we propose an invisible nanotube that consists of metal and dielectric alternating thin layers. The theoretical study of the light scattering of the layered nanotube reveals that almost-zero scattering can be achieved at a specific wavelength when the transverse-electric- or transverse-magnetic-polarized light is incident to the nanotube. In addition, the layered nanotube can be described as a radial-anisotropic hyperbolic metamaterial nanotube. The low scattering occurs when the effective permittivity of the hyperbolic nanotube in the angular direction is near zero, and thus the invisibility of the layered nanotube can be efficiently obtained by analyzing the equivalent hyperbolic nanotube. Our new method to design and tune an invisible nanostructure represents a significant step toward the practical implementation of unique nanophotonic devices such as invisible photodetectors and low-scattering near-field optical microscopes. PMID:26522815

Subwavelength-scale metal and dielectric nanostructures have served as important building blocks for electromagnetic metamaterials, providing unprecedented opportunities for manipulating the optical response of the matter. Recently, hyperbolic metamaterials have been drawing particular interest because of their unusual optical properties and functionalities, such as negative refraction and hyperlensing of light. Here, as a promising application of a hyperbolic metamaterial at visible frequency, we propose an invisible nanotube that consists of metal and dielectric alternating thin layers. The theoretical study of the light scattering of the layered nanotube reveals that almost-zero scattering can be achieved at a specific wavelength when the transverse-electric- or transverse-magnetic-polarized light is incident to the nanotube. In addition, the layered nanotube can be described as a radial-anisotropic hyperbolic metamaterial nanotube. The low scattering occurs when the effective permittivity of the hyperbolic nanotube in the angular direction is near zero, and thus the invisibility of the layered nanotube can be efficiently obtained by analyzing the equivalent hyperbolic nanotube. Our new method to design and tune an invisible nanostructure represents a significant step toward the practical implementation of unique nanophotonic devices such as invisible photodetectors and low-scattering near-field optical microscopes. PMID:26522815

We have designed, fabricated, and optically measured several different kinds of nano-scale metamaterials. We make use e-beam nano-lithography technology at LBNL's Center for X-Ray Optics for fabricating these structures on extremely thin SiN substrates so that they are close to free-standing. Optical properties were measured as a function of incidence angle and polarization. We directly observe a strong magnetic resonance consistent with a negative magnetic permeability in our samples at mid- and near-IR optical frequencies. We will discuss the results in comparison with detailed simulations, and will discuss the electric dipole or quadrupole resonances observed in the samples. Finally, we will report on our progress towards constructing a fully negative index of refraction meta-material.

New dielectric SERS metamaterial is investigated. The material consists of periodic dielectric bars deposited on the metal substrate. Computer simulations as well as real experiment reveal extraordinary optical reflectance in the proposed metamaterial due to the excitation of the multiple dielectric resonances. We demonstrate the enhancement of the Raman signal from the complex of 5,5'-dithio-bis-[2-nitrobenzoic acid] molecules and gold nanoparticle (DTNB-Au-NP), which is immobilized on the surface of the barshaped dielectric metamaterial. PMID:27137006

The structure of most mechanical metamaterials is periodic so that their design space is that of the unit cell. Here we introduce a combinatorial strategy to create a vast number of distinct mechanical metamaterials, each with a unique spatial texture and response. These are aperiodic stackings of anisotropic building blocks, and their functionality rests on both the block design and their stacking configuration which is governed by a tiling problem. We realize such metamaterials by 3D printing, and show that they act as soft machines, capable of pattern recognition and pattern analysis.

Metamaterials are artificial media structured on a size scale smaller than wavelength of external stimuli, and they can exhibit a strong localization and enhancement of fields, which may provide novel tools to significantly enhance the sensitivity and resolution of sensors, and open new degrees of freedom in sensing design aspect. This paper mainly presents the recent progress concerning metamaterials-based sensing, and detailedly reviews the principle, detecting process and sensitivity of three distinct types of sensors based on metamaterials, as well as their challenges and prospects. Moreover, the design guidelines for each sensor and its performance are compared and summarized. PMID:22736975

Using an integral equation approach based on the Rayleigh hypothesis, we investigate the scattering of a plane wave at the rough surface of a metamaterial with a finite number of sinusoidal grooves. To show the adequacy of the model, we present results that are in agreement with the predictions of physical optics and that quantitatively reproduce the polarization and angular dependences predicted by the C-formalism for metamaterial gratings with an infinite number of grooves. PMID:22695585

Fano resonances - resonant scattering features with a characteristic asymmetric profile - have generated much interest, due to their extensive and valuable applications in chemical or biological sensors, new types of optical switches, lasers and nonlinear optics. They have been observed in a wide variety of resonant optical systems, including photonic crystals, metamaterials, metallic gratings and nanostructures. In this work, a waveguide structure is designed by employing gradient-index metamaterials, supporting strong Fano resonances with extremely sharp spectra. As the changes in the transmission spectrum originate from the interaction of guided modes from different channels, instead of resonance structures or metamolecules, the Fano resonances can be observed for both transverse electric and transverse magnetic polarizations. These findings are verified by fine agreement with analytical calculations and experimental results at microwave, as well as simulated results at near infrared frequencies.

Fano resonances - resonant scattering features with a characteristic asymmetric profile - have generated much interest, due to their extensive and valuable applications in chemical or biological sensors, new types of optical switches, lasers and nonlinear optics. They have been observed in a wide variety of resonant optical systems, including photonic crystals, metamaterials, metallic gratings and nanostructures. In this work, a waveguide structure is designed by employing gradient-index metamaterials, supporting strong Fano resonances with extremely sharp spectra. As the changes in the transmission spectrum originate from the interaction of guided modes from different channels, instead of resonance structures or metamolecules, the Fano resonances can be observed for both transverse electric and transverse magnetic polarizations. These findings are verified by fine agreement with analytical calculations and experimental results at microwave, as well as simulated results at near infrared frequencies. PMID:26813107

Fano resonances – resonant scattering features with a characteristic asymmetric profile – have generated much interest, due to their extensive and valuable applications in chemical or biological sensors, new types of optical switches, lasers and nonlinear optics. They have been observed in a wide variety of resonant optical systems, including photonic crystals, metamaterials, metallic gratings and nanostructures. In this work, a waveguide structure is designed by employing gradient-index metamaterials, supporting strong Fano resonances with extremely sharp spectra. As the changes in the transmission spectrum originate from the interaction of guided modes from different channels, instead of resonance structures or metamolecules, the Fano resonances can be observed for both transverse electric and transverse magnetic polarizations. These findings are verified by fine agreement with analytical calculations and experimental results at microwave, as well as simulated results at near infrared frequencies. PMID:26813107

The tunable terahertz metamaterial (TTM) has attracted intense research interest, since the electromagnetic response of the metamaterial can be actively controlled through external stimulus, which is of great significance in real time applications. The active control of metamaterial characteristics is crucial in order to provide a flexible and versatile platform for mimicking fundamental physical effects. To realize the electromagnetic tunability, various approaches have been demonstrated to increase the flexibility in applications, such as changing the effective electromagnetic properties. Alternatively, MEMS-based techniques are well developed. The structural reconfiguration is a straightforward way to control the electromagnetic properties. The metamaterial properties can be directly modified by reconfiguring the unit cell which is the fundamental building block of metamaterials. Currently, our research works are focusing on MEMS-based TTM adopting stress-induced curved actuators (SICA) to adjust the resonant frequency of devices. Herein, the proposed TTM designs are double split-ring resonator (DSRR), electric split-ring resonator (eSRR), Omega-ring metamaterial (ORM), symmetric and asymmetric T-shape metamaterial (STM and ATM), respectively. We demonstrated these TTM can be active, continuous, and recoverable control the resonant frequency by using electrostatic or electrothermal actuation mechanism. Therefore, the TTM devices can be effectively used for sensors, optical switches, and filters applications.

We present the simulation, implementation, and measurement of a multispectral metamaterial absorber (MSMMA) and show that we can realize a simple absorber structure that operates in the mid-IR and terahertz (THz) bands. By embedding an IR metamaterial absorber layer into a standard THz metamaterial absorber stack, a narrowband resonance is induced at a wavelength of 4.3 μm. This resonance is in addition to the THz metamaterial absorption resonance at 109 μm (2.75 THz). We demonstrate the inherent scalability and versatility of our MSMMA by describing a second device whereby the MM-induced IR absorption peak frequency is tuned by varying the IR absorber geometry. Such a MSMMA could be coupled with a suitable sensor and formed into a focal plane array, enabling multispectral imaging. PMID:24690713

An infrared artificial thermochromic material composed of a metamaterial emitter and a bimaterial micro-electro-mechanical system is investigated. A differential emissivity of over 30% is achieved between 623 K and room temperature. The passive metamaterial device demonstrates the ability to independently control the peak wavelength and temperature dependence of the emissivity, and achieves thermal emission following a super Stefan-Boltzmann power curve. PMID:26619382

A resonant dielectric metamaterial comprises a first and a second set of dielectric scattering particles (e.g., spheres) having different permittivities arranged in a cubic array. The array can be an ordered or randomized array of particles. The resonant dielectric metamaterials are low-loss 3D isotropic materials with negative permittivity and permeability. Such isotropic double negative materials offer polarization and direction independent electromagnetic wave propagation.

Learn about the revolutionary new technology of negative-refraction metamaterials Negative-Refraction Metamaterials: Fundamental Principles and Applications introduces artificial materials that support the unusual electromagnetic property of negative refraction. Readers will discover several classes of negative-refraction materials along with their exciting, groundbreaking applications, such as lenses and antennas, imaging with super-resolution, microwave devices, dispersion-compensating interconnects, radar, and defense. The book begins with a chapter describing the fundamentals of isotropic metamaterials in which a negative index of refraction is defined. In the following chapters, the text builds on the fundamentals by describing a range of useful microwave devices and antennas. Next, a broad spectrum of exciting new research and emerging applications is examined, including: Theory and experiments behind a super-resolving, negative-refractive-index transmission-line lens 3-D transmission-line metamaterials with a negative refractive index Numerical simulation studies of negative refraction of Gaussian beams and associated focusing phenomena Unique advantages and theory of shaped lenses made of negative-refractive-index metamaterials A new type of transmission-line metamaterial that is anisotropic and supports the formation of sharp steerable beams (resonance cones) Implementations of negative-refraction metamaterials at optical frequencies Unusual propagation phenomena in metallic waveguides partially filled with negative-refractive-index metamaterialsMetamaterials in which the refractive index and the underlying group velocity are both negative This work brings together the best minds in this cutting-edge field. It is fascinating reading for scientists, engineers, and graduate-level students in physics, chemistry, materials science, photonics, and electrical engineering.

Nonlinear optical materials comprise the foundation of modern photonics, offering functionalities ranging from ultrafast lasers to optical switching, harmonic and soliton generation. Optical nonlinearities are typically strong near the electronic resonances of a material and thus provide limited tuneability for practical use. Here we show that in plasmonic nanorod metamaterials, the Kerr-type nonlinearity is not limited by the nonlinear properties of the constituents. Compared with gold's nonlinearity, the measured nonlinear absorption and refraction demonstrate more than two orders of magnitude enhancement over a broad spectral range that can be engineered via geometrical parameters. Depending on the metamaterial's effective plasma frequency, either a focusing or defocusing nonlinearity is observed. The ability to obtain strong and fast optical nonlinearities in a given spectral range makes these metamaterials a flexible platform for the development of low-intensity nonlinear applications. PMID:26195182

Hyperbolic metamaterials comprised of an array of plasmonic nanorods provide a unique platform for designing optical sensors and integrating nonlinear and active nanophotonic functionalities. In this work, the waveguiding properties and mode structure of planar anisotropic metamaterial waveguides are characterized experimentally and theoretically. While ordinary modes are the typical guided modes of the highly anisotropic waveguides, extraordinary modes, below the effective plasma frequency, exist in a hyperbolic metamaterial slab in the form of bulk plasmon-polaritons, in analogy to planar-cavity exciton-polaritons in semiconductors. They may have very low or negative group velocity with high effective refractive indices (up to 10) and have an unusual cut-off from the high-frequency side, providing deep-subwavelength (λ0/6–λ0/8 waveguide thickness) single-mode guiding. These properties, dictated by the hyperbolic anisotropy of the metamaterial, may be tuned by altering the geometrical parameters of the nanorod composite. PMID:26693254

We introduce and theoretically demonstrate a quantum metamaterial made of dense ultracold neutral atoms loaded into an inherently defect-free artificial crystal of light, immune to well-known critical challenges inevitable in conventional solid-state platforms. We demonstrate an all-optical control, on ultrafast time scales, over the photonic topological transition of the isofrequency contour from an open to closed topology at the same frequency. This atomic lattice quantum metamaterial enables a dynamic manipulation of the decay rate branching ratio of a probe quantum emitter by more than an order of magnitude. Our proposal may lead to practically lossless, tunable, and topologically reconfigurable quantum metamaterials, for single or few-photon-level applications as varied as quantum sensing, quantum information processing, and quantum simulations using metamaterials.

All-dielectric metamaterials offer a potential low-loss alternative to plasmonic metamaterials at optical frequencies. In this paper, we take advantage of the low absorption loss as well as the simple unit cell geometry to demonstrate large-scale (centimeter-sized) all-dielectric metamaterial perfect reflectors made from silicon cylinder resonators. These perfect reflectors, operating in the telecommunications band, were fabricated using self-assembly based nanosphere lithography. In spite of the disorder originating from the self-assembly process, the average reflectance of the metamaterial perfect reflectors is 99.7% at 1530 nm, surpassing the reflectance of metallic mirrors. Moreover, the spectral separation of the electric and magnetic resonances can be chosen to achieve the required reflection bandwidth while maintaining a high tolerance to disorder. Finally, the scalability of this design could lead to new avenues of manipulating light for low-loss and large-area photonic applications.

We introduce and theoretically demonstrate a quantum metamaterial made of dense ultracold neutral atoms loaded into an inherently defect-free artificial crystal of light, immune to well-known critical challenges inevitable in conventional solid-state platforms. We demonstrate an all-optical control, on ultrafast time scales, over the photonic topological transition of the isofrequency contour from an open to closed topology at the same frequency. This atomic lattice quantum metamaterial enables a dynamic manipulation of the decay rate branching ratio of a probe quantum emitter by more than an order of magnitude. Our proposal may lead to practically lossless, tunable, and topologically reconfigurable quantum metamaterials, for single or few-photon-level applications as varied as quantum sensing, quantum information processing, and quantum simulations using metamaterials. PMID:27152810

In this paper, strain sensors based on planar scaffold metamaterial design are demonstrated. The optical properties of such metamaterials are studied, which are proved to be highly dependent on the deformation of the structure. Fabricating such metamaterial on compliant polymeric substrate, the geometric parameters could be tuned with external strain and hence are found to control the reflection resonance condition of the metamaterial. Such mechanical tunability provides the opportunity to realize efficient strain sensors and about 27 nm resonance wavelength shift is observed by applying as much as 37% tensile strain. Furthermore, distinct from most of the previous works, our structures are based on “intaglio” design, which could be manufactured directly by one step fabrication using focused ion beam cutting, hence makes the fabrication process much simpler.

All-dielectric metamaterials offer a potential low-loss alternative to plasmonic metamaterials at optical frequencies. In this paper, we take advantage of the low absorption loss as well as the simple unit cell geometry to demonstrate large-scale (centimeter-sized) all-dielectric metamaterial perfect reflectors made from silicon cylinder resonators. These perfect reflectors, operating in the telecommunications band, were fabricated using self-assembly based nanosphere lithography. In spite of the disorder originating from the self-assembly process, the average reflectance of the metamaterial perfect reflectors is 99.7% at 1530 nm, surpassing the reflectance of metallic mirrors. Moreover, the spectral separation of the electric and magnetic resonances canmore » be chosen to achieve the required reflection bandwidth while maintaining a high tolerance to disorder. Finally, the scalability of this design could lead to new avenues of manipulating light for low-loss and large-area photonic applications.« less

Metamaterials (MMs) have shown huge potential in sensing applications by detecting their optical properties, which can be designed to operate at frequencies from visible to mid-IR. Here we constructed complementary split ring resonator (CSRR) based metamaterials in nanoscale with unit length of 100 nm and slit width of 30 nm, and observed obvious responses in the visible waveband from 600 to 900 nm. These visible responses show a good tunability with the structure’s geometry, and are well suited for dielectric detection. We demonstrated good refractive index sensing of CSRR based metamaterials in the visible region under both 0° and 90° polarized incidence. Our results extend the study of CSRR based metamaterials to the visible region, which is expected to deepen the understanding of the response mechanism of CSRRs and benefit their sensing applications in the visible region.

Metamaterials (MMs) have shown huge potential in sensing applications by detecting their optical properties, which can be designed to operate at frequencies from visible to mid-IR. Here we constructed complementary split ring resonator (CSRR) based metamaterials in nanoscale with unit length of 100 nm and slit width of 30 nm, and observed obvious responses in the visible waveband from 600 to 900 nm. These visible responses show a good tunability with the structure's geometry, and are well suited for dielectric detection. We demonstrated good refractive index sensing of CSRR based metamaterials in the visible region under both 0° and 90° polarized incidence. Our results extend the study of CSRR based metamaterials to the visible region, which is expected to deepen the understanding of the response mechanism of CSRRs and benefit their sensing applications in the visible region. PMID:22706679

Today's technological needs are demanding faster and smaller optical components. Optical microcavities offer a high confinement of electromagnetic field in a small volume, with dimensions comparable to the wavelength of light, which provides a unique system for the enhancement of light-matter interactions on the nanoscale. However, further reducing the size of the optical cavity (from microcavity to nanocavity) is limited to the fundamental diffraction limit. In hyperbolic metamaterials, large wave vectors can be achieved. Therefore, optical cavities, created from hyperbolic metamaterials (HMM), allow the confinement of the electromagnetic field to an extremely small volume with dimensions significantly smaller than the wavelength of light. The goal of this thesis work is to investigate the behavior of HMM cavities for eventual comparison with experimental results. Type II hyperbolic metamaterials can be created from layers of metal and dielectric. A COMSOL axisymmetric model is studied to determine the characteristic lowest order resonances of whispering gallery modes within the cavities. This model is studied for silicon, silicon dioxide, and aluminum silicon dioxide layers. A setup has been designed for the experimental study of bulk HMM materials and HMM cavities. A discussion of the fabrication process for HMM cavities follows.

The near and far field coupling behavior in plasmonic and metamaterial systems have been extensively studied over last few years. However, most of the coupling mechanisms reported in the past have been passive in nature which actually fail to control the coupling mechanism dynamically in the plasmonic metamaterial lattice array. Here, we demonstrate a dynamic mode coupling between resonators in a hybrid metal-semiconductor metamaterial comprised of metallic concentric rings that are physically connected with silicon bridges. The dielectric function of silicon can be instantaneously modified by photodoped carriers thus tailoring the coupling characteristics between the metallic resonators. Based on the experimental results, a theoretical model is developed, which shows that the optical responses depend on mode coupling that originates from the variation of the damping rate and coupling coefficient of the resonance modes. This particular scheme enables an in-depth understanding of the fundamental coupling mechanism and, therefore, the dynamic coupling enables functionalities and applications for designing on-demand reconfigurable metamaterial and plasmonic devices. PMID:26035057

The near and far field coupling behavior in plasmonic and metamaterial systems have been extensively studied over last few years. However, most of the coupling mechanisms reported in the past have been passive in nature which actually fail to control the coupling mechanism dynamically in the plasmonic metamaterial lattice array. Here, we demonstrate a dynamic mode coupling between resonators in a hybrid metal-semiconductor metamaterial comprised of metallic concentric rings that are physically connected with silicon bridges. The dielectric function of silicon can be instantaneously modified by photodoped carriers thus tailoring the coupling characteristics between the metallic resonators. Based on the experimental results, a theoretical model is developed, which shows that the optical responses depend on mode coupling that originates from the variation of the damping rate and coupling coefficient of the resonance modes. This particular scheme enables an in-depth understanding of the fundamental coupling mechanism and, therefore, the dynamic coupling enables functionalities and applications for designing on-demand reconfigurable metamaterial and plasmonic devices. PMID:26035057

Metamaterials, which are generally composed of subwavelength scale metallic structures, have been the subject of intensive research in recent years. Because their effective electromagnetic properties can be engineered by designing subwavelength scale metallic structures, called `meta-atoms', these artificially constructed materials are expected to lead to many new developments in the field of photonics. Furthermore, the terahertz (THz) frequency range has many important applications such as security detection, sensing, and biomedical imaging. Because many natural materials are inherently unresponsive to THz radiation, the natural materials that can be applied in devices in order to manipulate THz waves are very limited. Accordingly, the development of metamaterials with unusual optical properties in the THz frequency range has generated intense interest among researchers. In this part, design methods for metamaterials in the terahertz frequencies are introduced. This method is based on the unit cell design and S-parameter retrieval technique. Following a brief introduction to the method, some examples of terahertz metamaterial design will be presented in the last section.

The explosion of interest in metamaterials is due to the dramatically increased manipulation ability over light as well as sound waves. This material research was stimulated by the opportunity to develop an artificial media with negative refractive index and the application in superlens which allows super-resolution imaging. High-resolution acoustic imaging techniques are the essential tools for nondestructive testing and medical screening. However, the spatial resolution of the conventional acoustic imaging methods is restricted by the incident wavelength of ultrasound. This is due to the quickly fading evanescent fields which carry the subwavelength features of objects. By focusing the propagating wave and recovering the evanescent field, a flat lens with negative-index can potentially overcome the diffraction limit. We present the first experimental demonstration of focusing ultrasound waves through a flat acoustic metamaterial lens composed of a planar network of subwavelength Helmholtz resonators. We observed a tight focus of half-wavelength in width at 60.5 KHz by imaging a point source. This result is in excellent agreement with the numerical simulation by transmission line model in which we derived the effective mass density and compressibility. This metamaterial lens also displays variable focal length at different frequencies. Our experiment shows the promise of designing compact and light-weight ultrasound imaging elements. Moreover, the concept of metamaterial extends far beyond negative refraction, rather giving enormous choice of material parameters for different applications. One of the most interesting examples these years is the invisible cloak. Such a device is proposed to render the hidden object undetectable under the flow of light or sound, by guiding and controlling the wave path through an engineered space surrounding the object. However, the cloak designed by transformation optics usually calls for a highly anisotropic metamaterial, which

Critical concepts from three different fields, elasticity, plasmonics and metamaterials, are brought together to design a metasurface at the geophysical scale, the resonant metawedge, to control seismic Rayleigh waves. Made of spatially graded vertical subwavelength resonators on an elastic substrate, the metawedge can either mode convert incident surface Rayleigh waves into bulk elastic shear waves or reflect the Rayleigh waves creating a “seismic rainbow” effect analogous to the optical rainbow for electromagnetic metasurfaces. Time-domain spectral element simulations demonstrate the broadband efficacy of the metawedge in mode conversion while an analytical model is developed to accurately describe and predict the seismic rainbow effect; allowing the metawedge to be designed without the need for extensive parametric studies and simulations. The efficiency of the resonant metawedge shows that large-scale mechanical metamaterials are feasible, will have application, and that the time is ripe for considering many optical devices in the seismic and geophysical context. PMID:27283587

Critical concepts from three different fields, elasticity, plasmonics and metamaterials, are brought together to design a metasurface at the geophysical scale, the resonant metawedge, to control seismic Rayleigh waves. Made of spatially graded vertical subwavelength resonators on an elastic substrate, the metawedge can either mode convert incident surface Rayleigh waves into bulk elastic shear waves or reflect the Rayleigh waves creating a "seismic rainbow" effect analogous to the optical rainbow for electromagnetic metasurfaces. Time-domain spectral element simulations demonstrate the broadband efficacy of the metawedge in mode conversion while an analytical model is developed to accurately describe and predict the seismic rainbow effect; allowing the metawedge to be designed without the need for extensive parametric studies and simulations. The efficiency of the resonant metawedge shows that large-scale mechanical metamaterials are feasible, will have application, and that the time is ripe for considering many optical devices in the seismic and geophysical context. PMID:27283587

Critical concepts from three different fields, elasticity, plasmonics and metamaterials, are brought together to design a metasurface at the geophysical scale, the resonant metawedge, to control seismic Rayleigh waves. Made of spatially graded vertical subwavelength resonators on an elastic substrate, the metawedge can either mode convert incident surface Rayleigh waves into bulk elastic shear waves or reflect the Rayleigh waves creating a “seismic rainbow” effect analogous to the optical rainbow for electromagnetic metasurfaces. Time-domain spectral element simulations demonstrate the broadband efficacy of the metawedge in mode conversion while an analytical model is developed to accurately describe and predict the seismic rainbow effect; allowing the metawedge to be designed without the need for extensive parametric studies and simulations. The efficiency of the resonant metawedge shows that large-scale mechanical metamaterials are feasible, will have application, and that the time is ripe for considering many optical devices in the seismic and geophysical context.

In conventional materials, out of the two field components of light, electric and magnetic, only the electric one (``electric hand'') efficiently couples to and probes the atoms of a material while its ``magnetic hand'' remains almost unused because the interaction of atoms with the magnetic filed component of light is normally very week. Metamaterials, i.e. artificial materials with rationally designed properties, can enable the coupling of both field components of light to meta-atoms, enabling entirely new optical properties and exciting applications with such ``two-handed'' light. Metamaterials are expected to open a gateway to unprecedented electromagnetic properties and functionality unattainable from naturally occurring materials. Negative-refractive index metamaterials create entirely new prospects for guiding light on the nanoscale, some of which may have revolutionary impact on present-day optical technologies. The extraordinary nonlinear optical properties of negative-index metamaterials are also discussed. We review this new emerging field of metamaterials and recent progress in demonstrating a negative refractive index in the optical and visible range, where applications can be particularly important, including sub-wavelength imaging and cloaking objects, i.e. making them invisible.

A measuring method for the determination of error motions of linear stages based on non-diffracting beams (NDB) is presented. A right-angle prism and a beam splitter are adopted as the measuring head, which is fixed on the moving stage in order to sense the straightness and angular errors. Two CCDs are used to capture the NDB patterns that are carrying the errors. Four different types error s, the vertical straightness error and three rotational errors (the pitch, roll and yaw errors), can be separated and distinguished through theoretical analysis of the shift in the centre positions in the two cameras. Simulation results show that the proposed method using NDB can measure four-degrees-of-freedom errors for the linear stage.

Chiral metamaterials – artificial subwavelength structures with broken mirror symmetry – demonstrate outstanding degree of optical chirality that exhibits sophisticated spectral behavior and can eventually reach extreme values. Based on the fundamental causality principle we show how one can unambiguously relate the metamaterial circular dichroism and optical activity by the generalized Kramers-Kronig relations. Contrary to the conventional relations, the generalized ones provide a unique opportunity of extracting information on material-dependent zeroes of transmission coefficient in the upper half plane of complex frequency. We illustrate the merit of the formulated relations by applying them to the observed ultra chiral optical transmission spectra of subwavelength arrays of chiral holes in silver films. Apart from the possibility of precise verification of experimental data, the relations enable resolving complex eigenfrequencies of metamaterial intrinsic modes and resonances. PMID:25787007

Ultracompact and tunable beam converters pose a significant potential for modern optical technologies ranging from classical and quantum communication to optical manipulation. Here we design and demonstrate concentric-ring patterned structures of magnetic metamaterial cavities capable of tailoring both polarization and phase of light by converting circularly polarized light into a vector beam with an orbital angular momentum. We experimentally illustrate the realization of both radially and azimuthally polarized vortex beams using such concentric-ring patterned magnetic metamaterials. These results contribute to the advanced complex light manipulation with opticalmetamaterials, making it one step closer to realizing the simultaneous control of polarization and orbital angular momentum of light on a chip. PMID:26121268

We create acoustomechanical soft metamaterials whose response to uniaxial tensile stressing can be easily tailored by programming acoustic wave inputs, resulting in force versus stretch curves that exhibit distinct monotonic, s-shape, plateau and non-monotonic snapping behaviors. We theoretically demonstrate this unique metamaterial by considering a thin soft material sheet impinged by two counter-propagating ultrasonic wave inputs across its thickness and stretched by an in-plane uniaxial tensile force. We establish a theoretical acoustomechanical model to describe the programmable mechanics of such soft metamaterial, and introduce the first- and second-order tangential stiffness of its force versus stretch curve to boundary different behaviors that appear during deformation. The proposed phase diagrams for the underlying nonlinear mechanics show promising prospects for designing tunable and switchable photonic/phononic crystals and microfluidic devices that harness snap-through instability. PMID:27264106

We create acoustomechanical soft metamaterials whose response to uniaxial tensile stressing can be easily tailored by programming acoustic wave inputs, resulting in force versus stretch curves that exhibit distinct monotonic, s-shape, plateau and non-monotonic snapping behaviors. We theoretically demonstrate this unique metamaterial by considering a thin soft material sheet impinged by two counter-propagating ultrasonic wave inputs across its thickness and stretched by an in-plane uniaxial tensile force. We establish a theoretical acoustomechanical model to describe the programmable mechanics of such soft metamaterial, and introduce the first- and second-order tangential stiffness of its force versus stretch curve to boundary different behaviors that appear during deformation. The proposed phase diagrams for the underlying nonlinear mechanics show promising prospects for designing tunable and switchable photonic/phononic crystals and microfluidic devices that harness snap-through instability.

We create acoustomechanical soft metamaterials whose response to uniaxial tensile stressing can be easily tailored by programming acoustic wave inputs, resulting in force versus stretch curves that exhibit distinct monotonic, s-shape, plateau and non-monotonic snapping behaviors. We theoretically demonstrate this unique metamaterial by considering a thin soft material sheet impinged by two counter-propagating ultrasonic wave inputs across its thickness and stretched by an in-plane uniaxial tensile force. We establish a theoretical acoustomechanical model to describe the programmable mechanics of such soft metamaterial, and introduce the first- and second-order tangential stiffness of its force versus stretch curve to boundary different behaviors that appear during deformation. The proposed phase diagrams for the underlying nonlinear mechanics show promising prospects for designing tunable and switchable photonic/phononic crystals and microfluidic devices that harness snap-through instability. PMID:27264106

Metamaterial structures are taught which provide for the modulation of terahertz frequency signals. Each element within an array of metamaterial (MM) elements comprises multiple loops and at least one gap. The MM elements may comprise resonators with conductive loops and insulated gaps, or the inverse in which insulated loops are present with conductive gaps; each providing useful transmissive control properties. The metamaterial elements are fabricated on a semiconducting substrate configured with a means of enhancing or depleting electrons from near the gaps of the MM elements. An on to off transmissivity ratio of about 0.5 is achieved with this approach. Embodiments are described in which the MM elements incorporated within a Quantum Cascade Laser (QCL) to provide surface emitting (SE) properties.

Tailoring materials to obtain unique, or significantly enhanced material properties through rationally designed structures rather than chemical constituents is principle of metamaterial concept, which leads to the realization of remarkable optical and mechanical properties. Inspired by the recent progress in electromagnetic and mechanical metamaterials, here we introduce the concept of ferroelectric nano-metamaterials, and demonstrate through an experiment in silico with hierarchical nanostructures of ferroelectrics using sophisticated real-space phase-field techniques. This new concept enables variety of unusual and complex yet controllable domain patterns to be achieved, where the coexistence between hierarchical ferroelectric and ferrotoroidic polarizations establishes a new benchmark for exploration of complexity in spontaneous polarization ordering. The concept opens a novel route to effectively tailor domain configurations through the control of internal structure, facilitating access to stabilization and control of complex domain patterns that provide high potential for novel functionalities. A key design parameter to achieve such complex patterns is explored based on the parity of junctions that connect constituent nanostructures. We further highlight the variety of additional functionalities that are potentially obtained from ferroelectric nano-metamaterials, and provide promising perspectives for novel multifunctional devices. This study proposes an entirely new discipline of ferroelectric nano-metamaterials, further driving advances in metamaterials research.

Silicon is the primary material used for the fabrication of solar cells and it is responsible for about 40% of the cost. Metamaterials show promise in enhancing the performance of silicon solar cells thus, improving the efficiency. Here we report on the fabrication of a broadband, antireflective, conductive metamaterial capable of channeling light into a solar cell. As a precursor to making the metamaterial, standard p-n junctions were fabricated. Conventional phosphorus oxychloride (POCl3) furnace diffusion was used to create the p-n junction. When the p-n junction was forward biased, the measured current exhibited a diode characteristic. The measured photocurrent response yielded an open circuit voltage for the p-n junction at 0.48 VDC. The metamaterial film was fabricated, placed atop the p-n junction and characterized. Initial tests showed that the metamaterial antireflective properties were on par with those of standard industrial single-layer silicon nitride coatings. Further testing is being performed to assess the full optical and electrical performance of the metamaterial film.

Tailoring materials to obtain unique, or significantly enhanced material properties through rationally designed structures rather than chemical constituents is principle of metamaterial concept, which leads to the realization of remarkable optical and mechanical properties. Inspired by the recent progress in electromagnetic and mechanical metamaterials, here we introduce the concept of ferroelectric nano-metamaterials, and demonstrate through an experiment in silico with hierarchical nanostructures of ferroelectrics using sophisticated real-space phase-field techniques. This new concept enables variety of unusual and complex yet controllable domain patterns to be achieved, where the coexistence between hierarchical ferroelectric and ferrotoroidic polarizations establishes a new benchmark for exploration of complexity in spontaneous polarization ordering. The concept opens a novel route to effectively tailor domain configurations through the control of internal structure, facilitating access to stabilization and control of complex domain patterns that provide high potential for novel functionalities. A key design parameter to achieve such complex patterns is explored based on the parity of junctions that connect constituent nanostructures. We further highlight the variety of additional functionalities that are potentially obtained from ferroelectric nano-metamaterials, and provide promising perspectives for novel multifunctional devices. This study proposes an entirely new discipline of ferroelectric nano-metamaterials, further driving advances in metamaterials research. PMID:26424484

Tailoring materials to obtain unique, or significantly enhanced material properties through rationally designed structures rather than chemical constituents is principle of metamaterial concept, which leads to the realization of remarkable optical and mechanical properties. Inspired by the recent progress in electromagnetic and mechanical metamaterials, here we introduce the concept of ferroelectric nano-metamaterials, and demonstrate through an experiment in silico with hierarchical nanostructures of ferroelectrics using sophisticated real-space phase-field techniques. This new concept enables variety of unusual and complex yet controllable domain patterns to be achieved, where the coexistence between hierarchical ferroelectric and ferrotoroidic polarizations establishes a new benchmark for exploration of complexity in spontaneous polarization ordering. The concept opens a novel route to effectively tailor domain configurations through the control of internal structure, facilitating access to stabilization and control of complex domain patterns that provide high potential for novel functionalities. A key design parameter to achieve such complex patterns is explored based on the parity of junctions that connect constituent nanostructures. We further highlight the variety of additional functionalities that are potentially obtained from ferroelectric nano-metamaterials, and provide promising perspectives for novel multifunctional devices. This study proposes an entirely new discipline of ferroelectric nano-metamaterials, further driving advances in metamaterials research. PMID:26424484

This paper presents modeling, analysis techniques and experiment of for two-Dimensional Acoustic metamaterial Structure for filtering acoustic waves. For a unit cell of an infinite two-Dimensional Acoustic metamaterial Structure, governing equations are derived using the extended Hamilton principle. The concepts of negative effective mass and stiffness and how the spring-mass-damper subsystems create a stopband are explained in detail. Numerical simulations reveal that the actual working mechanism of the proposed acoustic metamaterial structure is based on the concept of conventional mechanical vibration absorbers. It uses the incoming wave in the structure to resonate the integrated membrane-mass-damper absorbers to vibrate in their optical mode at frequencies close to but above their local resonance frequencies to create shear forces and bending moments to straighten the panel and stop the wave propagation. Moreover, a two-dimension acoustic metamaterial structure consisting of lumped mass and elastic membrane is fabricated in the lab. We do experiments on the model and The results validate the concept and show that, for two-dimension acoustic metamaterial structure do exist two vibration modes. For the wave absorption, the mass of each cell should be considered in the design. With appropriate design calculations, the proposed two-dimension acoustic metamaterial structure can be used for absorption of low-frequency waves. Hence this special structure can be used in filtering the waves, and the potential using can increase the ultrasonic imaging quality.

A fabrication method is capable of creating canonical metamaterial structures arrayed in a three-dimensional geometry. The method uses a membrane suspended over a cavity with predefined pattern as a directional evaporation mask. Metallic and/or dielectric material can be evaporated at high vacuum through the patterned membrane to deposit resonator structures on the interior walls of the cavity, thereby providing a unit cell of micron-scale dimension. The method can produce volumetric metamaterial structures comprising layers of such unit cells of resonator structures.

Propagation of light in a metamaterial medium which mimics curved spacetime and acts like a black hole is studied. We show that for a particular type of spacetimes and wave polarization, the time dilation appears as dielectric permittivity, while the spatial curvature manifests as magnetic permeability. The optical analogue to the relativistic Hamiltonian which determines the ray paths (null geodesics) in the anisotropic metamaterial is obtained. By applying the formalism to the Schwarzschild metric, we compare the ray paths with full-wave simulations in the equivalent optical medium.

Topological mechanical metamaterials are artificial structures whose unusual properties are protected very much like their electronic and optical counterparts. Here, we present an experimental and theoretical study of an active metamaterial—composed of coupled gyroscopes on a lattice—that breaks time-reversal symmetry. The vibrational spectrum displays a sonic gap populated by topologically protected edge modes that propagate in only one direction and are unaffected by disorder. We present a mathematical model that explains how the edge mode chirality can be switched via controlled distortions of the underlying lattice. This effect allows the direction of the edge current to be determined on demand. We demonstrate this functionality in experiment and envision applications of these edge modes to the design of one-way acoustic waveguides. PMID:26561580

While the nonradiative decay of surface plasmons was once thought to be only a parasitic process that limits the performance of plasmonic devices, it has recently been shown that it can be harnessed in the form of hot electrons for use in photocatalysis, photovoltaics, and photodetectors. Unfortunately, the quantum efficiency of hot electron devices remains low due to poor electron injection and in some cases low optical absorption. Here, we demonstrate how metamaterial perfect absorbers can be used to achieve near-unity optical absorption using ultrathin plasmonic nanostructures with thicknesses of 15 nm, smaller than the hot electron diffusion length. By integrating the metamaterial with a silicon substrate, we experimentally demonstrate a broadband and omnidirectional hot electron photodetector with a photoresponsivity that is among the highest yet reported. We also show how the spectral bandwidth and polarization-sensitivity can be manipulated through engineering the geometry of the metamaterial unit cell. These perfect absorber photodetectors could open a pathway for enhancing hot electron based photovoltaic, sensing, and photocatalysis systems. PMID:24837991

In this dissertation we study the electromagnetic properties of plasmonic metamaterials. We develop an analytical description to solve the fundamental problem of free-space scattering in planar plasmonic systems by utilizing anisotropic metamaterials. We show with exact numerical simulations that these manufactured materials do completely eliminate the scattering, and even in the case of fabrication defects the scattering is greatly minimized. We further show that the standard effective medium theory calculations for the cases of anisotropic metamaterials constructed of metal-dielectric layers fails to account for nonlocal effects in the cases where the constituent materials have large differences in permittivity. We show how it is possible to construct a plasmon waveguide out of such a structure and describe a new naming scheme based on the bulk plasmon modes that are supported. Finally, we study the effective medium theory applied to the case of plasmonic wires embedded in a dielectric host. We describe the effect the geometric properties of the structure has on effective permittivities. For example, we show that a 10% stretching/compression of the distance between nanowires can change the sign of elements of the permittivity tensor. These results can be applied to high-performance optical sensing, optical polarizers, novel lenses including the hyper- and superlenses, and subdiffraction imaging.

Topological mechanical meta-materials are artificial structures whose unusual properties are protected very much like their electronic and optical counterparts. I will present an experimental and theoretical study of a new kind of active meta-material comprised of coupled gyroscopes on a lattice that breaks time-reversal symmetry. The vibrational spectrum displays a sonic gap populated by topologically protected edge modes which propagate in only one direction and are unaffected by disorder. We observe these edge modes in experiment and verify their robustness to disorder and the insertion of obstacles. Controlled distortions of the underlying lattice can induce a topological phase transition that switches the edge mode chirality. This effect allows the direction of the edge current to be determined on demand.

The detection and processing of information carried by evanescent field components are key elements for subwavelength optical microscopy as well as single molecule sensing applications. Here, we numerically demonstrate the potential of a hyperbolic medium in the design of an efficient metamaterial antenna enabling detection and tracking of a nonlinear object, with an otherwise hidden second-harmonic signature. The presence of the antenna provides 103-fold intensity enhancement of the second harmonic generation (SHG) from a nanoparticle through a metamaterial-assisted access to evanescent second-harmonic fields. Alternatively, the observation of SHG from the metamaterial itself can be used to detect and track a nanoparticle without a nonlinear response. The antenna allows an optical resolution of several nanometers in tracking the nanoparticle's location via observations of the far-field second-harmonic radiation pattern. PMID:26698705

Photonic memristors, which behave as memristors operating with electromagnetic fields, present an effective means to achieve all-optical networking, and can promote the development of optical communications and computer technology. In this paper, we report a microwave memristive phenomenon at room temperature in metamaterials consisting of negative temperature coefficient thermistor ceramic disk and split-ring resonator (SRR). Hysteretic transmission-incident field power loops, the area of which varies with the scan rate of power, (similar to the fingerprint of memristors) were observed in the metamaterials. These effects are attributed to the increasing conductivity of the ceramic disk with increasing temperature generated by the interaction between electromagnetic waves and metamaterials. This work offers new opportunities for the development of photonic memristors.

We present a new technique for permanent metamaterial reconfiguration via optically induced mass transfer of gold. This mass transfer, which can be explained by field-emission induced electromigration, causes a geometric change in the metamaterial sample. Since a metamaterial's electromagnetic response is dictated by its geometry, this structural change massively alters the metamaterial's behavior. We show this by optically forming a conducting pathway between two closely spaced dipole antennas, thereby changing the resonance frequency by a factor of two. After discussing the physics of the process, we conclude by presenting an optical fuse that can be used as a sacrificial element to protect sensitive components, demonstrating the applicability of optically induced mass transfer for device design. PMID:25969252

In this paper, one kind of helix-like chiral metamaterial which can be realized by multiple conventional lithography or electron beam lithographic techniques is proposed to have a broadband bianisotropic optical response analogous to helical metamaterials. On the basis of twisted metamaterials, via tailoring the relative orientation within the lattice, the anisotropy of arcs is converted into magneto-electric coupling of closely spaced arc pairs, which leads to a broad bianisotropic optical response. By connecting the adjacent upper and lower arcs, the coupling of metasurface pairs is transformed into the coupling of the three-dimensional inclusions, and provides a much broader and higher bianisotropic optical response. For only a four-layer helix-like metamaterial, the maximum extinction ratio can reach 19.7. The operation band is in the wavelength range of 4.69 μm to 8.98 μm with an average extinction ratio of 6.9. And the transmittance for selective polarization is above 0.8 in the entire operation band. Such a structure is a promising candidate for integratable and scalable broadband circular polarizers, especially it has great potential to act as a broadband circular micropolarizer in the field of the full-Stokes division of focal plane polarimeters.In this paper, one kind of helix-like chiral metamaterial which can be realized by multiple conventional lithography or electron beam lithographic techniques is proposed to have a broadband bianisotropic optical response analogous to helical metamaterials. On the basis of twisted metamaterials, via tailoring the relative orientation within the lattice, the anisotropy of arcs is converted into magneto-electric coupling of closely spaced arc pairs, which leads to a broad bianisotropic optical response. By connecting the adjacent upper and lower arcs, the coupling of metasurface pairs is transformed into the coupling of the three-dimensional inclusions, and provides a much broader and higher bianisotropic optical

We report the existence of multiple omnidirectional defect modes in the zero-nbar gap of photonic stacks, made of alternate layers of conventional dielectric and double-negative metamaterial, with a polaritonic defect layer. In the case of nonlinear magnetic metamaterials, the optical bistability phenomenon leads to switching from negligible to perfect transmission around these defect modes. We hope these findings have potential applications in the design and development of multichannel optical filters, power limiters, optical-diodes and optical-transistors.

Recent advancements in metamaterials and plasmonics have promised a number of exciting applications, in particular at terahertz and optical frequencies. Unfortunately, the noble metals used in these photonic structures are not particularly good conductors at high frequencies, resulting in significant dissipative loss. Here, we address the question of what is a good conductor for metamaterials and plasmonics. For resonant metamaterials, we develop a figure-of-merit for conductors that allows for a straightforward classification of conducting materials according to the resulting dissipative loss in the metamaterial. Application of our method predicts that graphene and high-T{sub c} superconductors are not viable alternatives for metals in metamaterials. We also provide an overview of a number of transition metals, alkali metals and transparent conducting oxides. For plasmonic systems, we predict that graphene and high-T{sub c} superconductors cannot outperform gold as a platform for surface plasmon polaritons, because graphene has a smaller propagation length-to-wavelength ratio.

The terahertz (THz) portion of the electromagnetic spectrum (0.1-10 THz) has not been fully utilized due to the lack of sensitive detectors. Real-time imaging in this spectral range has been demonstrated using uncooled infrared microbolometer cameras and external illumination provided by quantum cascade laser (QCL) based THz sources. However, the microbolometer pixels in the cameras have not been optimized to achieve high sensitivity in THz frequencies. Recently, we have developed a highly sensitive micromechanical THz sensor employing bi-material effect with an integrated metamaterial absorber tuned to the THz frequency of interest. The use of bi-material structures causes deflection on the sensor to as the absorbed THz radiation increases its temperature, which can be monitored optically by reflecting a light beam. This approach eliminates the integration of readout electronics needed in microbolometers. The absorption of THz by metamaterial can be tailored by controlling geometrical parameters. The sensors can be fabricated using conventional microelectronic materials and incorporated into pixels to form focal plane arrays (FPAs). In this presentation, characterization and readout of a THz sensor with integrated metamaterial structure will be described. Supported by DoD.

The radiation dynamics of optical emitters can be manipulated by properly designed material structures modifying local density of photonic states, a phenomenon often referred to as the Purcell effect. Plasmonic nanorod metamaterials with hyperbolic dispersion of electromagnetic modes are believed to deliver a significant Purcell enhancement with both broadband and nonresonant nature. Here, we have investigated finite-size resonators formed by nanorod metamaterials and shown that the main mechanism of the Purcell effect in such resonators originates from the supported hyperbolic modes, which stem from the interacting cylindrical surface plasmon modes of the finite number of nanorods forming the resonator. The Purcell factors delivered by these resonator modes reach several hundreds, which is up to 5 times larger than those in the ɛ-near-zero regime. It is shown that while the Purcell factor delivered by the Fabry-Pérot modes depends on the resonator size, the decay rate in the ɛ-near-zero regime is almost insensitive to geometry. The presented analysis shows a possibility to engineer emission properties in structured metamaterials, taking into account their internal composition.

Pendry’s perfect lens has spurred intense interest for its practical realization at visible frequencies. However, fabrication of low-loss isotropic left-handed metamaterials is a current challenge. In this work, we theoretically show that under specific conditions anisotropic metamaterial slabs can emulate Pendry’s perfect-lens phenomenon on a plane. Geometric optics leads to a new lens formula for this special anisotropic metamaterial superlens, which allows significant shrinkage of the metamaterial slab thickness for a certain range of far-field operation. Conversely, such anisotropic metamaterial superlens with the same thickness as its isotropic analog can operate for much larger distances between object and lens. We present numerical simulations which confirm our theoretical calculations. In particular, we find subdiffraction focusing that rivals the perfect isotropic negative-index metamaterial lens performance and obeys the new lens formula as predicted. In addition, we demonstrate that it is possible to attain far-field superfocusing with a metamaterial slab as thin as half the free-space wavelength. We believe this work will inspire new anisotropic metamaterial designs and opens a promising route for the realization of compact far-field superlenses in the visible regime.

Most conventional materials expand in transverse directions when they are compressed uniaxially resulting in the familiar positive Poisson’s ratio. Here we develop a new class of two dimensional (2D) metamaterials with negative Poisson’s ratio that contract in transverse directions under uniaxial compressive loads leading to auxeticity. This is achieved through mechanical instabilities (i.e., buckling) introduced by structural hierarchy and retained over a wide range of applied compression. This unusual behavior is demonstrated experimentally and analyzed computationally. The work provides new insights into the role of structural organization and hierarchy in designing 2D auxetic metamaterials, and new opportunities for developing energy absorbing materials, tunable membrane filters, and acoustic dampeners.

We describe mechanical metamaterials created by folding flat sheets in the tradition of origami, the art of paper folding, and study them in terms of their basic geometric and stiffness properties, as well as load bearing capability. A periodic Miura-ori pattern and a non-periodic Ron Resch pattern were studied. Unexceptional coexistence of positive and negative Poisson's ratio was reported for Miura-ori pattern, which are consistent with the interesting shear behavior and infinity bulk modulus of the same pattern. Unusually strong load bearing capability of the Ron Resch pattern was found and attributed to the unique way of folding. This work paves the way to the study of intriguing properties of origami structures as mechanical metamaterials. PMID:25099402

We describe mechanical metamaterials created by folding flat sheets in the tradition of origami, the art of paper folding, and study them in terms of their basic geometric and stiffness properties, as well as load bearing capability. A periodic Miura-ori pattern and a non-periodic Ron Resch pattern were studied. Unexceptional coexistence of positive and negative Poisson's ratio was reported for Miura-ori pattern, which are consistent with the interesting shear behavior and infinity bulk modulus of the same pattern. Unusually strong load bearing capability of the Ron Resch pattern was found and attributed to the unique way of folding. This work paves the way to the study of intriguing properties of origami structures as mechanical metamaterials. PMID:25099402

Most conventional materials expand in transverse directions when they are compressed uniaxially resulting in the familiar positive Poisson’s ratio. Here we develop a new class of two dimensional (2D) metamaterials with negative Poisson’s ratio that contract in transverse directions under uniaxial compressive loads leading to auxeticity. This is achieved through mechanical instabilities (i.e., buckling) introduced by structural hierarchy and retained over a wide range of applied compression. This unusual behavior is demonstrated experimentally and analyzed computationally. The work provides new insights into the role of structural organization and hierarchy in designing 2D auxetic metamaterials, and new opportunities for developing energy absorbing materials, tunable membrane filters, and acoustic dampeners. PMID:26670417

Most conventional materials expand in transverse directions when they are compressed uniaxially resulting in the familiar positive Poisson's ratio. Here we develop a new class of two dimensional (2D) metamaterials with negative Poisson's ratio that contract in transverse directions under uniaxial compressive loads leading to auxeticity. This is achieved through mechanical instabilities (i.e., buckling) introduced by structural hierarchy and retained over a wide range of applied compression. This unusual behavior is demonstrated experimentally and analyzed computationally. The work provides new insights into the role of structural organization and hierarchy in designing 2D auxetic metamaterials, and new opportunities for developing energy absorbing materials, tunable membrane filters, and acoustic dampeners. PMID:26670417

A design of bionic acoustic metamaterial and acoustic functional devices was proposed by employing the mammalian cochlear as a prototype. First, combined with the experimental data in previous literatures, it is pointed out that the cochlear hair cells and stereocilia cluster are a kind of natural biological acoustic metamaterials with the negative stiffness characteristics. Then, to design the acoustic functional devices conveniently in engineering application, a simplified parametric helical structure was proposed to replace actual irregular cochlea for bionic design, and based on the computational results of such a bionic parametric helical structure, it is suggested that the overall cochlear is a local resonant system with the negative dynamic effective mass characteristics. There are many potential applications in the bandboard energy recovery device, cochlear implant, and acoustic black hole.

We demonstrate how broadband angular selectivity can be achieved with stacks of one-dimensionally periodic photonic crystals, each consisting of alternating isotropic layers and effective anisotropic layers, where each effective anisotropic layer is constructed from a multilayered metamaterial. We show that by simply changing the structure of the metamaterials, the selective angle can be tuned to a broad range of angles; and, by increasing the number of stacks, the angular transmission window can be made as narrow as desired. As a proof of principle, we realize the idea experimentally in the microwave regime. The angular selectivity and tunability we report here can have various applications such as in directional control of electromagnetic emitters and detectors.

Fundamental study on plasmonics excites surface plasmons opening possibility for stronger light-matter interaction at nanoscales and optical frequencies. On the other hand, metamaterials, known as artificial materials built with designable subwavelength units, offer unprecedented new material properties not existing in nature. By combining unique advantages in these two areas, plasmonic metamaterials gain tremendous momentum for fundamental research interest and potential practical applications through the active and passive interaction with and control of light. This thesis is focused on the theoretical and experimental study of plasmonic metamaterials with tunable plasmonic properties, and their applications in controlling spontaneous emission process of quantum emitters, and manipulating light propagation, scattering and absorption. To break the limitation of surface plasmon properties by existing metal materials, composite- and multilayer-based metamaterials are investigated and their tunable plasmonic properties are demonstrated. Nanopatterned multilayer metamaterials with hyperbolic dispersion relations are further utilized to enhance spontaneous emission rates of molecules at desired frequencies with improved far-field radiative power through the Purcell effect. Theoretical calculations and experimental lifetime characterizations show the tunable broadband Purcell enhancement of 76 fold on the hyperbolic metamaterials that better aligns with spontaneous emission spectra and the emission intensity improvement of 80 fold achieved by the out-coupling effect of nanopatterns. This concept is later applied to quantum-well light emitting devices for improving the light efficiency and modulation speed at blue and green wavelengths. On the passive light manipulation, in contrast to strong plasmonic scattering from metal patterns, anomalously weak scattering by patterns in multilayer hyperbolic metamaterials is observed and experimentally demonstrated to be

This paper reviews recent advances in graphene active plasmonic metamaterials for new types of terahertz lasers. We theoretically discovered that when the population of Dirac Fermionic carriers in graphene are inverted by optical or electrical pumping the excitation of graphene plasmons by the THz photons results in propagating surface plasmon polaritons with giant gain in a wide THz range. Furthermore, when graphene is patterned in a micro- or nano-ribbon array by grating gate metallization, the structure acts as an active plasmonic metamaterial, providing a super-radiant plasmonic lasing with giant gain at the plasmon modes in a wide THz frequency range.

Hyperbolic metamaterials may be used to model a 2 + 1-dimensional Minkowski space-time in which the role of time is played by one of the spatial coordinates. When a metamaterial is built and illuminated with a coherent extraordinary laser beam, the stationary pattern of light propagation inside the metamaterial may be treated as a collection of particle world lines, which represents a complete ‘history’ of this 2 + 1-dimensional space-time. While this model may be used to build interesting space-time analogs, such as metamaterial ‘black holes’ and a metamaterial ‘big bang’, it lacks causality: since light inside the metamaterial may propagate back and forth along the ‘timelike’ spatial coordinate, events in the ‘future’ may affect events in the ‘past’. Here we demonstrate that a more sophisticated metamaterial model may fix this deficiency via breaking the mirror and temporal (PT) symmetries of the original model and producing one-way propagation along the ‘timelike’ spatial coordinate. The resulting 2 + 1-dimensional Minkowski space-time appears to be causal. This scenario may be considered as a metamaterial model of the Wheeler-Feynman absorber theory of causality.

A snapping mechanical metamaterial is designed, which exhibits a sequential snap-through behavior under tension. The tensile response of this mechanical metamaterial can be altered by tuning the architecture of the snapping segments to achieve a range of nonlinear mechanical responses, including monotonic, S-shaped, plateau, and non-monotonic snap-through behavior. PMID:26314680

This is a review of some recent (mostly ours) results on Anderson localization of light and electron waves in complex disordered systems, including: (i) left-handed metamaterials, (ii) magnetoactive optical structures, (iii) graphene superlattices, and (iv) nonlinear dielectric media. First, we demonstrate that left-handed metamaterials can significantly suppress localization of light and lead to an anomalously enhanced transmission. This suppression is essential at the long-wavelength limit in the case of normal incidence, at specific angles of oblique incidence (Brewster anomaly), and in vicinity of zero-ɛ or zero-μ frequencies for dispersive metamaterials. Remarkably, in disordered samples comprised of alternating normal and left-handed metamaterials, the reciprocal Lyapunov exponent and reciprocal transmittance increment can differ from each other. Second, we study magnetoactive multilayered structures, which exhibit nonreciprocal localization of light depending on the direction of propagation and on polarization. At resonant frequencies or realizations such nonreciprocity results in effectively unidirectional transport of light. Third, we discuss the analogy between wave propagation through multilayered samples with metamaterials and charge transport in graphene, which provides a simple physical explanation of unusual conductive properties of disordered graphene superlatices. We predict disorder-induced resonance of the transmission coefficient at oblique incidence of Dirac quasiparticles. Finally, we demonstrate that an interplay of nonlinearity and disorder in dielectric media can lead to bistability of individual localized states excited inside the medium at resonant frequencies. This results in nonreciprocity of wave transmission and unidirectional transport of light.

Single pixel cameras are useful imaging devices where it is difficult or infeasible to fashion focal plan arrays. For example in the Far Infrared (FIR) it is difficult to perform imaging by conventional detector arrays, owing to the cost and size of such an array. The typical single pixel camera uses a spatial light modulator (SLM) - placed in the conjugate image plane - and is used to sample various portions of the image. The spatially modulated light emerging from the SLM is then sent to a single detector where the light is condensed with suitable optics for detection. Conventional SLMs are either based on liquid crystals or digital mirror devices. As such these devices are limited in modulation speeds of order 30 kHz. Further there is little control over the type of light that is modulated. We present metamaterial based spatial light modulators which provide the ability to digitally encode images - with various measurement matrix coefficients - thus permitting high speed and fidelity imaging capability. In particular we use the Hadamard matrix and related S-matrix to encode images for single pixel imaging. Metamaterials thus permit imaging in regimes of the electromagnetic spectrum where conventional SLMs are not available. Additionally, metamaterials offer several salient features that are not available with commercial SLMs. For example, metamaterials may be used to enable hyperspectral, polarimetric, and phase sensitive imaging. We present the theory and experimental results of single pixel imaging with digital metamaterials in the far infrared and highlight the future of this exciting field.

We analyze the effect of microscopic disorder on the macroscopic properties of composite metamaterials and study how weak statistically independent fluctuations of the parameters of the structure elements can modify their collective magnetic response and left-handed properties. We demonstrate that even a weak microscopic disorder may lead to a substantial modification of the metamaterial magnetic properties, and a 10% deviation in the parameters of the microscopic resonant elements may lead to a substantial suppression of the wave propagation in a wide frequency range. A noticeable suppression occurs also if more than 10% of the resonant magnetic elements possess strongly different properties, and in the latter case the defects can create an additional weak resonant line. These results are of a key importance for characterizing and optimizing novel composite metamaterials with the left-handed properties at terahertz and optical frequencies. PMID:16803055

In this paper, one kind of helix-like chiral metamaterial which can be realized by multiple conventional lithography or electron beam lithographic techniques is proposed to have a broadband bianisotropic optical response analogous to helical metamaterials. On the basis of twisted metamaterials, via tailoring the relative orientation within the lattice, the anisotropy of arcs is converted into magneto-electric coupling of closely spaced arc pairs, which leads to a broad bianisotropic optical response. By connecting the adjacent upper and lower arcs, the coupling of metasurface pairs is transformed into the coupling of the three-dimensional inclusions, and provides a much broader and higher bianisotropic optical response. For only a four-layer helix-like metamaterial, the maximum extinction ratio can reach 19.7. The operation band is in the wavelength range of 4.69 μm to 8.98 μm with an average extinction ratio of 6.9. And the transmittance for selective polarization is above 0.8 in the entire operation band. Such a structure is a promising candidate for integratable and scalable broadband circular polarizers, especially it has great potential to act as a broadband circular micropolarizer in the field of the full-Stokes division of focal plane polarimeters. PMID:27352818

A polymeric matrix material exhibits low loss at optical frequencies and facilitates the fabrication of all-dielectric metamaterials. The low-loss polymeric matrix material can be synthesized by providing an unsaturated polymer, comprising double or triple bonds; partially hydrogenating the unsaturated polymer; depositing a film of the partially hydrogenated polymer and a crosslinker on a substrate; and photopatterning the film by exposing the film to ultraviolet light through a patterning mask, thereby cross-linking at least some of the remaining unsaturated groups of the partially hydrogenated polymer in the exposed portions.

We show multi-band coherent perfect absorption (CPA) in simple bilayered asymmetrically split ring metamaterials. The selectivity of absorption can be accomplished by separately excited electric and magnetic modes in a standing wave formed by two coherent counterpropagating beams. In particular, each CPA can be completely switched on/off by the phase of a second coherent wave. We propose a practical scheme for realizing multi-band coherent perfect absorption of 100% that is allowed to work from microwave to optical frequency.

We proposed and numerically investigated the influence of spatial topology on the infrared frequency region response of chiral metamaterials based on discrete deformed split ring resonators. Compared with the well studied continuous helix, the proposed metamaterials with discrete topology exhibit broad band chiral electromagnetic response. It is shown that the conversion between left and right circular polarization waves for our model is much broader than the continuous helix model. The observed cross-coupling between electric and magnetic fields results from the chiral electric currents on the resonators due to the broken mirror symmetry. The findings are useful for the design of future real three-dimensional chiral metamaterials with tunable optical response.

Based upon the bionics principle, we present the design of a metal-dielectric-metal sandwiched leaf-shaped metamaterial, and the numerical simulation and experiment have confirmed an obvious left-handed transmission peak by this structure. The retrieved effective permittivity, permeability, and refractive index are all negative around the frequency of the resonant peak, and the planar lens focusing experiment has further confirmed its left-handed features. The results in this paper can be used to explain the resonance mechanism of the left-handed metamaterials fabricated by means of the nano-self-assembly approach, and thus may greatly promote the development of opticalmetamaterials.

In this work we describe how to model the efficiency of solar cells with novel metamaterial coatings optimized for light harvesting. Full device modeling is implemented using optical and electrical simulations. As a proof of concept, we simulate the operation of a metamaterial contact on a first generation monocrystalline silicon solar cell. We compare device characteristics and efficiencies to standard antireflective coatings applied to a grid contact cell. The effects of the metamaterial contact on silicon solar cell efficiencies is discussed for PN junction and metal-insulator-semiconductor cell structures. It is found that the metal-insulator-semiconductor solar cell designed performs better than the PN junction cell.

Recently metamaterials have inspired worldwide researches due to their exotic properties in transmitting, reflecting, absorbing or refracting specific electromagnetic waves. Most metamaterials are known to have anisotropic properties, but existing anisotropy models are applicable only to a single meta-atom and its properties. Here we propose an anisotropy model for asymmetrical meta-atom clusters and their polarization dependency. The proposed anisotropic meta-atom clusters show a unique resonance property in which their frequencies can be altered for parallel polarization, but fixed to a single resonance frequency for perpendicular polarization. The proposed anisotropic metamaterials are expected to pave the way for novel optical systems.

Recently metamaterials have inspired worldwide researches due to their exotic properties in transmitting, reflecting, absorbing or refracting specific electromagnetic waves. Most metamaterials are known to have anisotropic properties, but existing anisotropy models are applicable only to a single meta-atom and its properties. Here we propose an anisotropy model for asymmetrical meta-atom clusters and their polarization dependency. The proposed anisotropic meta-atom clusters show a unique resonance property in which their frequencies can be altered for parallel polarization, but fixed to a single resonance frequency for perpendicular polarization. The proposed anisotropic metamaterials are expected to pave the way for novel optical systems. PMID:24910144

We present a new and versatile technique of self-assembly lithography to fabricate a large scale Cadmium selenide quantum dots-silver nanogap metamaterials. After optical and electron microscopic characterizations of the metamaterials, we performed spatially resolved photoluminescence transmission measurements. We obtained highly quenched photoluminescence spectra compared to those from bare quantum dots film. We then quantified the quenching in terms of an average photoluminescence enhancement factor. A finite difference time domain simulation was performed to understand the role of an electric field enhancement in the nanogap over this quenching. Finally, we interpreted the mechanism of the photoluminescence quenching and proposed fabrication method of new metamaterials using our technique. PMID:26072850

Optical forces are increasingly relevant in nanoscale optical science and engineering, but optical momentum in materials is still not fully understood. It is now shown that microstructure details as well as macroscopic optical parameters are important in determining optical momentum.

This paper describes and demonstrates a terahertz (THz) frequency tunable fishnet metamaterial (TFMM) using an electrically controlled polymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) matrix. In contrast to other PDLC-based devices, the TFMM employs a novel method for encapsulating PDLC using a thin (1.5 μm) polyimide "skin layer" to form a uniform surface for metal electrodes while minimizing the Fabry-Perot effect of the skin layer on the TFMM measurements. The tunability was verified by measuring the frequency shift in the reflection coefficient (0.01 THz), with an observed minimum negative refractive index of -15 at 0.55 THz.

We review different routes for the generation of nanoporous metallic foams and films exhibiting well-defined pore size and short-range order. Dealloying and templating allows the generation of both two- and three-dimensional structures which promise a well defined plasmonic response determined by material constituents and porosity. Viewed in the context of metamaterials, the ease of fabrication of samples covering macroscopic dimensions is highly promising, and suggests more in-depth investigations of the plasmonic and photonic properties of this material system for photonic applications.

Almost a decade ago, transformation optics established a geometrical perspective to describe the interaction of light with structured matter, enhancing our understanding and control of light. However, despite their huge technological relevance in applications such as optical circuitry, optical detection, and actuation, guided electromagnetic waves along dielectric waveguides have not yet benefited from the flexibility and conceptual simplicity of transformation optics. Indeed, transformation optics inherently imposes metamaterials not only inside the waveguide's core but also in the surrounding substrate and cladding. Here we restore the two-dimensional nature of guided electromagnetic waves by introducing a thickness variation on an anisotropic dielectric core according to alternative two-dimensional equivalence relations. Our waveguides require metamaterials only inside the core with the additional advantage that the metamaterials need not be magnetic and, hence, our purely dielectric waveguides are low loss. We verify the versatility of our theory with full wave simulations of three crucial functionalities: beam bending, beam splitting, and lensing. Our method opens up the toolbox of transformation optics to a plethora of waveguide-based devices.

While metal is the most common conducting constituent element in the fabrication of metamaterials, graphene provides another useful building block, that is, a truly two-dimensional conducting sheet whose conductivity can be controlled by doping. Here we report the experimental realization of a multilayer structure of alternating graphene and Al2O3 layers, a structure similar to the metal-dielectric multilayers commonly used in creating visible wavelength hyperbolic metamaterials. Chemical vapour deposited graphene rather than exfoliated or epitaxial graphene is used, because layer transfer methods are easily applied in fabrication. We employ a method of doping to increase the layer conductivity, and our analysis shows that the doped chemical vapour deposited graphene has good optical properties in the mid-infrared range. We therefore design the metamaterial for mid-infrared operation; our characterization with an infrared ellipsometer demonstrates that the metamaterial experiences an optical topological transition from elliptic to hyperbolic dispersion at a wavelength of 4.5 μm.

While metal is the most common conducting constituent element in the fabrication of metamaterials, graphene provides another useful building block, that is, a truly two-dimensional conducting sheet whose conductivity can be controlled by doping. Here we report the experimental realization of a multilayer structure of alternating graphene and Al2O3 layers, a structure similar to the metal-dielectric multilayers commonly used in creating visible wavelength hyperbolic metamaterials. Chemical vapour deposited graphene rather than exfoliated or epitaxial graphene is used, because layer transfer methods are easily applied in fabrication. We employ a method of doping to increase the layer conductivity, and our analysis shows that the doped chemical vapour deposited graphene has good optical properties in the mid-infrared range. We therefore design the metamaterial for mid-infrared operation; our characterization with an infrared ellipsometer demonstrates that the metamaterial experiences an optical topological transition from elliptic to hyperbolic dispersion at a wavelength of 4.5 μm. PMID:26843149

Metamaterials have introduced a whole new world of unusual materials with functionalities that cannot be attained in naturally occurring material systems by mimicking and controlling the natural phenomena at subwavelength scales. However, the inherent absorption losses pose a fundamental challenge to the most fascinating applications of metamaterials. Based on a novel plasmon injection (PI or Π) scheme, we propose a coherent optical amplification technique to compensate losses in metamaterials. Although the proof of concept device here operates under normal incidence only, our proposed scheme can be generalized to an arbitrary form of incident waves. The Π scheme is fundamentally different from major optical amplification schemes. It does not require a gain medium, interaction with phonons, or any nonlinear medium. The Π scheme allows for loss-free metamaterials. It is ideally suited for mitigating losses in metamaterials operating in the visible spectrum and is scalable to other optical frequencies. These findings open the possibility of reviving the early dreams of making "magical" metamaterials from scratch. PMID:26230802

Metamaterials have introduced a whole new world of unusual materials with functionalities that cannot be attained in naturally occurring material systems by mimicking and controlling the natural phenomena at subwavelength scales. However, the inherent absorption losses pose a fundamental challenge to the most fascinating applications of metamaterials. Based on a novel plasmon injection (PI or Π ) scheme, we propose a coherent optical amplification technique to compensate losses in metamaterials. Although the proof of concept device here operates under normal incidence only, our proposed scheme can be generalized to an arbitrary form of incident waves. The Π scheme is fundamentally different from major optical amplification schemes. It does not require a gain medium, interaction with phonons, or any nonlinear medium. The Π scheme allows for loss-free metamaterials. It is ideally suited for mitigating losses in metamaterials operating in the visible spectrum and is scalable to other optical frequencies. These findings open the possibility of reviving the early dreams of making "magical" metamaterials from scratch.

We present a class of mechanical metamaterials characterized by a uniform soft deformation--a large, zero-energy homogeneous elastic deformation mode of the structure--that may be used to induce topological transitions and dramatically change mechanical and acoustic properties of the structure. We show that the existence of such a mode determines certain exotic mechanical and acoustic properties of the structure and its activation can reversibly alter and tune these properties. This serves as the basis for a design principle for mechanical metamaterials with tunable properties. When the structure's uniform mode is primarily dilational (shearing) its surface (bulk) possesses phonon modes with vanishing speed of sound. Maxwell lattices comprise a subclass of such material which, owing to their critical coordination number (four, in 2D), necessarily possess such a uniform zero mode, often termed a Guest mode, and which may be topologically polarized, such that zero modes are moved from one edge to another. We show that activating the deformation can alter the shear/dilational character of the mode and topologically polarize the structure, thereby altering the bulk and surface properties at no significant energy cost. arXiv:1510.06389 [cond-mat.soft] NWO, Delta Institute of Physics, ICAM fellowship (DZR) and NSF Grant PHY-1402971 at University of Michigan (KS).

Metamaterial-based cloaks make objects different from their surrounding appear just like their surrounding. To date, cloaking has been demonstrated experimentally in many fields of research, including electrodynamics at microwave frequencies, optics, static electric conduction, acoustics, fluid dynamics, thermodynamics and quasi two-dimensional solid mechanics. However, cloaking in the seemingly simple case of three-dimensional solid mechanics is more demanding. Here, inspired by invisible core-shell nanoparticles in optics, we design an approximate elasto-mechanical core-shell 'unfeelability' cloak based on pentamode metamaterials. The resulting three-dimensional polymer microstructures with macroscopic overall volume are fabricated by rapid dip-in direct laser writing optical lithography. We quasi-statically deform cloak and control samples in the linear regime and map the displacement fields by autocorrelation-based analysis of recorded movies. The measured and the calculated displacement fields show very good cloaking performance. This means that one can elastically hide objects along these lines. PMID:24942191

The emerging field of plasmonic metamaterials has introduced new degree of freedom to manipulate optical field from nano to macroscopic scale, offering an attractive platform for sensing applications. So far, metamaterial sensor concepts, however, have focused on hot-spot engineering to improve the near-field enhancement, rather than fully exploiting tailored material properties. Here, we present a novel spectroscopic technique based on the metamaterial infrared (IR) absorber allowing for a low-background detection scheme as well as significant plasmonic enhancement. Specifically, we experimentally demonstrate the resonant coupling of plasmonic modes of a metamaterial absorber and IR vibrational modes of a molecular self-assembled monolayer. The metamaterial consisting of an array of Au/MgF2/Au structures exhibits an anomalous absorption at ~3000 cm-1, which spectrally overlaps with C-H stretching vibrational modes. Symmetric/asymmetric C-H stretching modes of a 16-Mercaptohexadecanoic acid monolayer are clearly observed as Fano-like anti-resonance peaks within a broad plasmonic absorption of the metamaterial. Spectral analysis using Fano line-shape fitting reveals the underlying resonant interference in plasmon-molecular coupled systems. Our metamaterial approach achieves the attomole sensitivity with a large signal-to-noise ratio in the far-field measurement, thus may open up new avenues for realizing ultrasensitive IR inspection technologies.

The emerging field of plasmonic metamaterials has introduced new degree of freedom to manipulate optical field from nano to macroscopic scale, offering an attractive platform for sensing applications. So far, metamaterial sensor concepts, however, have focused on hot-spot engineering to improve the near-field enhancement, rather than fully exploiting tailored material properties. Here, we present a novel spectroscopic technique based on the metamaterial infrared (IR) absorber allowing for a low-background detection scheme as well as significant plasmonic enhancement. Specifically, we experimentally demonstrate the resonant coupling of plasmonic modes of a metamaterial absorber and IR vibrational modes of a molecular self-assembled monolayer. The metamaterial consisting of an array of Au/MgF2/Au structures exhibits an anomalous absorption at ~ 3000 cm(-1), which spectrally overlaps with C-H stretching vibrational modes. Symmetric/asymmetric C-H stretching modes of a 16-Mercaptohexadecanoic acid monolayer are clearly observed as Fano-like anti-resonance peaks within a broad plasmonic absorption of the metamaterial. Spectral analysis using Fano line-shape fitting reveals the underlying resonant interference in plasmon-molecular coupled systems. Our metamaterial approach achieves the attomole sensitivity with a large signal-to-noise ratio in the far-field measurement, thus may open up new avenues for realizing ultrasensitive IR inspection technologies. PMID:26229011

The emerging field of plasmonic metamaterials has introduced new degree of freedom to manipulate optical field from nano to macroscopic scale, offering an attractive platform for sensing applications. So far, metamaterial sensor concepts, however, have focused on hot-spot engineering to improve the near-field enhancement, rather than fully exploiting tailored material properties. Here, we present a novel spectroscopic technique based on the metamaterial infrared (IR) absorber allowing for a low-background detection scheme as well as significant plasmonic enhancement. Specifically, we experimentally demonstrate the resonant coupling of plasmonic modes of a metamaterial absorber and IR vibrational modes of a molecular self-assembled monolayer. The metamaterial consisting of an array of Au/MgF2/Au structures exhibits an anomalous absorption at ~3000 cm−1, which spectrally overlaps with C-H stretching vibrational modes. Symmetric/asymmetric C-H stretching modes of a 16-Mercaptohexadecanoic acid monolayer are clearly observed as Fano-like anti-resonance peaks within a broad plasmonic absorption of the metamaterial. Spectral analysis using Fano line-shape fitting reveals the underlying resonant interference in plasmon-molecular coupled systems. Our metamaterial approach achieves the attomole sensitivity with a large signal-to-noise ratio in the far-field measurement, thus may open up new avenues for realizing ultrasensitive IR inspection technologies. PMID:26229011

Since the initial demonstration of negative refraction and cloaking using metamaterials, there has been enormous interest and progress in making practical devices based on metamaterials such as electrically small antennas, absorbers, modulators, detectors etc that span over a wide range of electromagnetic spectrum covering microwave, terahertz, infrared (IR) and optical wavelengths. We present metamaterial as an active substrate where each unit cell serves as an element for generation of plasma, the fourth state of matter. Sub-wavelength localization of incident electromagnetic wave energy, one of the most interesting properties of metamaterials is employed here for generating high electric field to ignite and sustain microscale plasmas. Frequency selective nature of the metamaterial unit cells make it possible to generate spatially localized microplasma in a large array using multiple resonators. A dual resonator topology is shown for the demonstration. Since microwave energy couples to the metamaterial through free space, the proposed approach is naturally wireless. Such spatially controllable microplasma arrays provide a fundamentally new material system for future investigations in novel applications, e.g. nonlinear metamaterials. PMID:25098976

Since the initial demonstration of negative refraction and cloaking using metamaterials, there has been enormous interest and progress in making practical devices based on metamaterials such as electrically small antennas, absorbers, modulators, detectors etc that span over a wide range of electromagnetic spectrum covering microwave, terahertz, infrared (IR) and optical wavelengths. We present metamaterial as an active substrate where each unit cell serves as an element for generation of plasma, the fourth state of matter. Sub-wavelength localization of incident electromagnetic wave energy, one of the most interesting properties of metamaterials is employed here for generating high electric field to ignite and sustain microscale plasmas. Frequency selective nature of the metamaterial unit cells make it possible to generate spatially localized microplasma in a large array using multiple resonators. A dual resonator topology is shown for the demonstration. Since microwave energy couples to the metamaterial through free space, the proposed approach is naturally wireless. Such spatially controllable microplasma arrays provide a fundamentally new material system for future investigations in novel applications, e.g. nonlinear metamaterials. PMID:25098976

Mechanical metamaterials exhibit unusual properties through the shape and movement of their engineered subunits. This work presents a new investigation of the Poisson’s ratios of a family of cellular metamaterials based on Kirigami design principles. Kirigami is the art of cutting and folding paper to obtain 3D shapes. This technique allows us to create cellular structures with engineered cuts and folds that produce large shape and volume changes, and with extremely directional, tuneable mechanical properties. We demonstrate how to produce these structures from flat sheets of composite materials. By a combination of analytical models and numerical simulations we show how these Kirigami cellular metamaterials can change their deformation characteristics. We also demonstrate the potential of using these classes of mechanical metamaterials for shape change applications like morphing structures.

We provide theoretical and numerical analyses of the behavior of a plate-type acoustic metamaterial considered in an air-borne sound environment in view of sound mitigation application. Two configurations of plate are studied, a spring-mass one and a pillar system-based one. The acoustic performances of the considered systems are investigated with different approaches and show that a high sound transmission loss (STL) up to 82 dB is reached with a metamaterial plate with a thickness of 0.5 mm. The physical understanding of the acoustic behavior of the metamaterial partition is discussed based on both air-borne and structure-borne approaches. Confrontation between the STL, the band structure, the displacement fields and the effective mass density of the plate metamaterial is made to have a complete physical understanding of the different mechanisms involved. xml:lang="fr"

Mechanical metamaterials exhibit unusual properties through the shape and movement of their engineered subunits. This work presents a new investigation of the Poisson's ratios of a family of cellular metamaterials based on Kirigami design principles. Kirigami is the art of cutting and folding paper to obtain 3D shapes. This technique allows us to create cellular structures with engineered cuts and folds that produce large shape and volume changes, and with extremely directional, tuneable mechanical properties. We demonstrate how to produce these structures from flat sheets of composite materials. By a combination of analytical models and numerical simulations we show how these Kirigami cellular metamaterials can change their deformation characteristics. We also demonstrate the potential of using these classes of mechanical metamaterials for shape change applications like morphing structures. PMID:27491945

Photonic crystals and metamaterials, both composed of artificial structures, are two interesting areas in electromagnetism and optics. New phenomena in photonic crystals and metamaterials are being discovered, including some not found in natural materials. This thesis presents my research work in the two areas. Photonic crystals are periodically arranged artificial structures, mostly made from dielectric materials, with period on the same order of the wavelength of the working electromagnetic wave. The wave propagation in photonic crystals is determined by the Bragg scattering of the periodic structure. Photonic band-gaps can be present for a properly designed photonic crystal. Electromagnetic waves with frequency within the range of the band-gap are suppressed from propagating in the photonic crystal. With surface defects, a photonic crystal could support surface modes that are localized on the surface of the crystal, with mode frequencies within the band-gap. With line defects, a photonic crystal could allow the propagation of electromagnetic waves along the channels. The study of surface modes and waveguiding properties of a 2D photonic crystal will be presented in Chapter 1. Metamaterials are generally composed of artificial structures with sizes one order smaller than the wavelength and can be approximated as effective media. Effective macroscopic parameters such as electric permittivity ϵ, magnetic permeability μ are used to characterize the wave propagation in metamaterials. The fundamental structures of the metamaterials affect strongly their macroscopic properties. By designing the fundamental structures of the metamaterials, the effective parameters can be tuned and different electromagnetic properties can be achieved. One important aspect of metamaterial research is to get artificial magnetism. Metallic split-ring resonators (SRRs) and variants are widely used to build magnetic metamaterials with effective μ < 1 or even μ < 0. Varactor based

The word "magic" is usually associated with movies, fiction, children stories, etc. but seldom with the natural sciences. Recent advances in metamaterials have changed this notion, in which we can now speak of "almost magical" properties that scientists could only dream about only a decade ago. In this article, we review some of the recent "almost magical" progress in the field of meta-materials.

The word "magic" is usually associated with movies, fiction, children stories, etc. but seldom with the natural sciences. Recent advances in metamaterials have changed this notion, in which we can now speak of "almost magical" properties that scientists could only dream about only a decade ago. In this article, we review some of the recent "almost magical" progress in the field of meta-materials.

We demonstrate 2D and multilayer dielectric metamaterials made from III–V semiconductors using a monolithic fabrication process. The resulting structures could be used to recompress chirped femtosecond optical pulses and in a variety of other optical applications requiring low loss. Moreover, these III–V all-dielectric metamaterials could enable novel active applications such as efficient nonlinear frequency converters, light emitters, detectors, and modulators.

An all-optical tunabe chirality is realized in a photonic metamaterial, the metamolecule of which consists of a nonlinear nano-Au:polycrystalline indium-tin oxide layer sandwiched between two L-shaped gold nano-antennas twisted 90° with each other. The maximum circular dichroism reached 30%. Under excitation of a 40 kW/cm{sup 2} weak pump light, the peak in the circular dichroism shifts 45 nm in the short-wavelength direction. An ultrafast response time of 35 ps is maintained. This work not only opens up the possibility for the realization of ultralow-power and ultrafast all-optical tunable chirality but also offers a way to construct ultrahigh-speed on-chip biochemical sensors.

In this paper, we outline the background, mission, and activities of the Virtual Institute for Artificial Electromagnetic Materials and Metamaterials (METAMORPHOSE VI). This international association, founded in the framework of the FP-6 Network of Excellence METAMORPHOSE, aims at promoting and developing research, training, and dissemination activities in the emerging and highly dynamic field of advanced electromagnetic materials and metamaterials at both European and International levels. More than 300 researchers are currently associated with the METAMORPHOSE VI which networks them together in a learnt society. After a brief description of the association and its mission, we present an overview of the activities developed by the METAMORPHOSE VI, with a particular emphasis on the coordination of the European Doctoral Program on Metamaterials (EUPROMETA) and the organization of the International Congress on Advanced Electromagnetic Materials in Microwaves and Optics - metamaterials congress.

In this letter, we study the near-field radiative heat transfer between two metamaterial substrates coated with silicon carbide (SiC) thin films. It is known that metamaterials can enhance the near-field heat transfer over ordinary materials due to excitation of magnetic plasmons associated with s polarization, while strong surface phonon polariton exists for SiC. By careful tuning of the optical properties of metamaterial, it is possible to excite electrical and magnetic resonances for the metamaterial and surface phonon polaritons for SiC at different spectral regions, resulting in the enhanced heat transfer. The effect of the SiC film thickness at different vacuum gaps is investigated. Results obtained from this study will be beneficial for application of thin film coatings for energy harvesting.

Applying the photoexcitation characteristics of vanadium dioxide (VO2), a dynamic resonant terahertz (THz) modulation with the combination of a VO2 film and a metamaterial was suggested to realize THz wave active manipulation. The designed metamaterial with structured copper rings arrays can realize a passband from 0.776 to 1.045 THz. When insulator-metal phase transition in VO2 thin film, which is deposited on the other surface of the metamaterial substrate, is induced by optical pumping, the metamaterial/VO2 film hybrid structure behaves as an absorber with absorption rates of 90% at 0.88 THz and the transmission energy decrease to less than 3%. Therefore, about 78% modulation depth and more than 250 GHz modulation bandwidth have been reached under the photoinducing. The simulation results illustrate the promise of using phase transition materials for efficient broadband fast response modulators for THz waves.

Auxetic mechanical metamaterials are engineered systems that exhibit the unusual macroscopic property of a negative Poisson's ratio due to sub-unit structure rather than chemical composition. Although their unique behaviour makes them superior to conventional materials in many practical applications, they are limited in availability. Here, we propose a new class of hierarchical auxetics based on the rotating rigid units mechanism. These systems retain the enhanced properties from having a negative Poisson's ratio with the added benefits of being a hierarchical system. Using simulations on typical hierarchical multi-level rotating squares, we show that, through design, one can control the extent of auxeticity, degree of aperture and size of the different pores in the system. This makes the system more versatile than similar non-hierarchical ones, making them promising candidates for industrial and biomedical applications, such as stents and skin grafts. PMID:25670400

Auxetic mechanical metamaterials are engineered systems that exhibit the unusual macroscopic property of a negative Poisson's ratio due to sub-unit structure rather than chemical composition. Although their unique behaviour makes them superior to conventional materials in many practical applications, they are limited in availability. Here, we propose a new class of hierarchical auxetics based on the rotating rigid units mechanism. These systems retain the enhanced properties from having a negative Poisson's ratio with the added benefits of being a hierarchical system. Using simulations on typical hierarchical multi-level rotating squares, we show that, through design, one can control the extent of auxeticity, degree of aperture and size of the different pores in the system. This makes the system more versatile than similar non-hierarchical ones, making them promising candidates for industrial and biomedical applications, such as stents and skin grafts.

Auxetic mechanical metamaterials are engineered systems that exhibit the unusual macroscopic property of a negative Poisson's ratio due to sub-unit structure rather than chemical composition. Although their unique behaviour makes them superior to conventional materials in many practical applications, they are limited in availability. Here, we propose a new class of hierarchical auxetics based on the rotating rigid units mechanism. These systems retain the enhanced properties from having a negative Poisson's ratio with the added benefits of being a hierarchical system. Using simulations on typical hierarchical multi-level rotating squares, we show that, through design, one can control the extent of auxeticity, degree of aperture and size of the different pores in the system. This makes the system more versatile than similar non-hierarchical ones, making them promising candidates for industrial and biomedical applications, such as stents and skin grafts. PMID:25670400

We consider plasmonic nanoantennas immersed in active host medium. Specifically shaped metal nanoantennas can exhibit strong magnetic properties in the optical spectral range due to the excitation of Magnetic Resonance Plasmons (MRP). A case when a metamaterial comprising such nanoantennas can demonstrate both "left-handiness" and negative permeability in the optical range is considered. We show that high losses predicted for optical "left-handed" materials can be compensated in the gain medium. Gains required to achieve local generation in such magnetic active metamaterials are calculated for real metals

The full control of single or even multiple physical fields has attracted intensive research attention in the past decade, thanks to the development of metamaterials and transformation optics. Significant progress has been made in vector fields (e.g., optics, electromagnetics, and acoustics), leading to a host of strikingly functional metamaterials, such as invisibility cloaks, illusion devices, concentrators, and rotators. However, metamaterials in vector fields, designed through coordinate transformation of Maxwell’s equations, usually require extreme parameters and impose challenges on the actual realization. In this context, metamaterials in scalar fields (e.g., thermal and dc fields), which are mostly governed by the Laplace equation, lead to more plausible and facile implementations, since there are native insulators and excellent conductors (serving as two extreme cases). This paper therefore is particularly dedicated to reviewing the most recent advances in Laplacian metamaterials in manipulating thermal (both transient and steady states) and dc fields, separately and (or) simultaneously. We focus on the theory, design, and realization of thermal/dc functional metamaterials that can be used to control heat flux and electric current at will. We also provide an outlook toward the challenges and future directions in this fascinating area.

Modulation of the refractive index of materials is elementary, yet it is crucial for the manipulation of electromagnetic waves. Relying on the inherent properties of natural materials, it has been a long-standing challenge in device engineering to increase the index-modulation contrast. Here, we demonstrate a significant amount of ultrafast index modulation by optically exciting non-equilibrium Dirac fermions in the graphene layer integrated onto a high-index metamaterial. Furthermore, an extremely-large electrical modulation of refractive index up to Δn ~ −3.4 (at 0.69 THz) is achieved by electrical tuning of the density of the equilibrium Dirac fermion in the graphene metamaterial. This manifestation, otherwise remaining elusive in conventional semiconductor devices, fully exploits the characteristic ultrafast charge relaxation in graphene as well as the strong capacitive response of the metamaterial, both of which enable us to drastically increase the light-matter interaction of graphene and the corresponding index contrast in the graphene metamaterials. PMID:23823715

Based on the generalized multi-particle Mie theory and the Fourier transformation approach, light scattering of two interacting homogeneous uniaxial anisotropic spheres with parallel primary optical axes illuminated by a zero-order Bessel beam (ZOBB) is investigated. The size and configuration of the particles are arbitrary. The expansion expressions of the ZOBB are given in terms of the spherical vector wave functions (SVWFs) and the expansion coefficients are derived. Utilizing the vector addition theorem of the SVWFs, the interactive scattering coefficients are derived through the continuous boundary conditions on which the interaction of the bispheres is considered. The effects of the conical angle, beam centre position, sphere separation distance, and anisotropic parameters on the far-region field distributions are numerically analyzed in detail. Some results are compared with those results for a Gaussian beam incidence. Selected results of bispheres consisting of typical medium such as TiO2, SiO2, Silicon, water are exhibited. This investigation could provide an effective test for further research on the scattering characteristic of an aggregate of anisotropic spheres by a high-order Bessel vortex beam and radiation forces, which are important in optical tweezers and particle manipulation applications.

Metamaterials are man-made composite materials, fabricated by assembling components much smaller than the wavelength at which they operate 1. They owe their electromagnetic properties to the structure of their constituents, instead of the atoms that compose them. For example, sub-wavelength metal wires can be arranged to possess an effective electric permittivity that is either positive or negative at a given frequency, in contrast to the metals themselves 2. This unprecedented control over the behaviour of light can potentially lead to a number of novel devices, such as invisibility cloaks 3, negative refractive index materials 4, and lenses that resolve objects below the diffraction limit 5. However, metamaterials operating at optical, mid-infrared and terahertz frequencies are conventionally made using nano- and micro-fabrication techniques that are expensive and produce samples that are at most a few centimetres in size 6-7. Here we present a fabrication method to produce hundreds of meters of metal wire metamaterials in fiber form, which exhibit a terahertz plasmonic response 8. We combine the stack-and-draw technique used to produce microstructured polymer optical fiber 9 with the Taylor-wire process 10, using indium wires inside polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) tubes. PMMA is chosen because it is an easy to handle, drawable dielectric with suitable optical properties in the terahertz region; indium because it has a melting temperature of 156.6 °C which is appropriate for codrawing with PMMA. We include an indium wire of 1 mm diameter and 99.99% purity in a PMMA tube with 1 mm inner diameter (ID) and 12 mm outside diameter (OD) which is sealed at one end. The tube is evacuated and drawn down to an outer diameter of 1.2 mm. The resulting fiber is then cut into smaller pieces, and stacked into a larger PMMA tube. This stack is sealed at one end and fed into a furnace while being rapidly drawn, reducing the diameter of the structure by a factor of 10, and

Metamaterials are man-made composite materials, fabricated by assembling components much smaller than the wavelength at which they operate (1). They owe their electromagnetic properties to the structure of their constituents, instead of the atoms that compose them. For example, sub-wavelength metal wires can be arranged to possess an effective electric permittivity that is either positive or negative at a given frequency, in contrast to the metals themselves (2). This unprecedented control over the behaviour of light can potentially lead to a number of novel devices, such as invisibility cloaks (3), negative refractive index materials (4), and lenses that resolve objects below the diffraction limit (5). However, metamaterials operating at optical, mid-infrared and terahertz frequencies are conventionally made using nano- and micro-fabrication techniques that are expensive and produce samples that are at most a few centimetres in size (6-7). Here we present a fabrication method to produce hundreds of meters of metal wire metamaterials in fiber form, which exhibit a terahertz plasmonic response (8). We combine the stack-and-draw technique used to produce microstructured polymer optical fiber (9) with the Taylor-wire process (10), using indium wires inside polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) tubes. PMMA is chosen because it is an easy to handle, drawable dielectric with suitable optical properties in the terahertz region; indium because it has a melting temperature of 156.6 °C which is appropriate for codrawing with PMMA. We include an indium wire of 1 mm diameter and 99.99% purity in a PMMA tube with 1 mm inner diameter (ID) and 12 mm outside diameter (OD) which is sealed at one end. The tube is evacuated and drawn down to an outer diameter of 1.2 mm. The resulting fiber is then cut into smaller pieces, and stacked into a larger PMMA tube. This stack is sealed at one end and fed into a furnace while being rapidly drawn, reducing the diameter of the structure by a factor

Acoustic metamaterials can manipulate and control sound waves in ways that are not possible in conventional materials. Metamaterials with zero, or even negative, refractive index for sound offer new possibilities for acoustic imaging and for the control of sound at subwavelength scales. The combination of transformation acoustics theory and highly anisotropic acoustic metamaterials enables precise control over the deformation of sound fields, which can be used, for example, to hide or cloak objects from incident acoustic energy. Active acoustic metamaterials use external control to create effective material properties that are not possible with passive structures and have led to the development of dynamically reconfigurable, loss-compensating and parity-time-symmetric materials for sound manipulation. Challenges remain, including the development of efficient techniques for fabricating large-scale metamaterial structures and converting laboratory experiments into useful devices. In this Review, we outline the designs and properties of materials with unusual acoustic parameters (for example, negative refractive index), discuss examples of extreme manipulation of sound and, finally, provide an overview of future directions in the field.

We have numerically demonstrated chiral metamaterials based on double-layered asymmetric Au film with hollow out design of split ring resonators on either side of the polyimide. Multiple electric dipoles and magnetic dipoles resulted from parallel and antiparallel currents between the eight split ring resonators. Multi-band circular dichroism is found in the visible frequency regime by studying the transmission properties. Huge optical activity and the induced multi-band negative refractive index are obtained at resonance by calculating the optical activity and ellipticity of the transmitted E-fields. Chirality parameter and effective refractive index are retrieved to illustrate the tunable optical properties of the metamaterials. The underlying mechanisms for the observed circular dichroism are analyzed. These metamaterials would offer flexible electromagnetic applications in the infrared and visible regime.

Noble metals such as gold and silver are conventionally used as the primary plasmonic building blocks of opticalmetamaterials. Making subwavelength-scale structural elements from these metals not only seriously limits the optical performance of a device due to high absorption, it also substantially complicates the manufacturing process of nearly all metamaterial devices in the optical wavelength range. As an alternative to noble metals, we propose to use heavily doped oxide semiconductors that offer both functional and fabrication advantages in the near-infrared wavelength range. In this letter, we replace a metal with aluminum-doped zinc oxide as a new plasmonic material and experimentally demonstrate negative refraction in an Al:ZnO/ZnO metamaterial in the near-infrared range. PMID:22611188

Noble metals such as gold and silver are conventionally used as the primary plasmonic building blocks of opticalmetamaterials. Making subwavelength-scale structural elements from these metals not only seriously limits the optical performance of a device due to high absorption, it also substantially complicates the manufacturing process of nearly all metamaterial devices in the optical wavelength range. As an alternative to noble metals, we propose to use heavily doped oxide semiconductors that offer both functional and fabrication advantages in the near-infrared wavelength range. In this letter, we replace a metal with aluminum-doped zinc oxide as a new plasmonic material and experimentally demonstrate negative refraction in an Al:ZnO/ZnO metamaterial in the near-infrared range. PMID:22611188

This paper presents a new metamaterial beam based on multi-frequency vibration absorbers for broadband vibration absorption. The proposed metamaterial beam consists of a uniform isotropic beam and small two-mass spring-mass- damper subsystems at many locations along the beam to act as multi-frequency vibration absorbers. For an infinite metamaterial beam, governing equations of a unit cell are derived using the extended Hamilton principle. The existence of two stopbands is demonstrated using a model based on averaging material properties over a cell length and a model based on finite element modeling and the Bloch-Floquet theory for periodic structures. For a finite metamaterial beam, because these two idealized models cannot be used for finite beams and/or elastic waves having short wavelengths, a finite-element method is used for detailed modeling and analysis. The concepts of negative effective mass and effective stiffness and how the spring-mass-damper subsystem creates two stopbands are explained in detail. Numerical simulations reveal that the actual working mechanism of the proposed metamaterial beam is based on the concept of conventional mechanical vibration absorbers. For an incoming wave with a frequency in one of the two stopbands, the absorbers are excited to vibrate in their optical modes to create shear forces to straighten the beam and stop the wave propagation. For an incoming wave with a frequency outside of but between the two stopbands, it can be efficiently damped out by the damper with the second mass of each absorber. Hence, the two stopbands are connected into a wide stopband. Numerical examples validate the concept and show that the structure's boundary conditions do not have significant influence on the absorption of high-frequency waves. However, for absorption of low-frequency waves, the structure's boundary conditions and resonance frequencies and the location and spatial distribution of absorbers need to be considered in design, and it

Metamaterials with hyperbolic dispersion based on metallic nanorod arrays provide a flexible platform for the design of bio- and chemical sensors and nonlinear devices, allowing the incorporation of functional materials into and onto the plasmonic metamaterial. Here, we have investigated, both analytically and numerically, the dependence of the optical response of these metamaterials on refractive index variations in commonly used experimental sensing configurations, including transmission, reflection, and total internal reflection. The strategy for maximising refractive index sensitivity for different configurations has been considered, taking into account contributions from the superstrate, embedding matrix, and the metal itself. It is shown that the sensitivity to the refractive index variations of the host medium is at least 2 orders of magnitude higher than to the ones originating from the superstrate. It is also shown that the refractive index sensitivity increases for higher-order unbound and leaky modes of the metamaterial sensor. The impact of the transducer's thickness was also analysed showing significant increase of the sensitivity for the thinner metamaterial layers (down to few 0.01 fraction of wavelength and, thus, requiring less analyte) as long as modes are supported by the structure. In certain configurations, both TE and TM-modes of the metamaterial transducer have comparable sensitivities. The results provide the basis for the design of new ultrasensitive chemical and biosensors outperforming both surface plasmon polaritons and localised surface plasmons based transducers. PMID:26072797

We present a consistent theoretical approach for calculating effective nonlinear susceptibilities of metamaterials taking into account both frequency and spatial dispersion. Employing the discrete dipole model, we demonstrate that effects of spatial dispersion become especially pronounced in the vicinity of effective permittivity resonance where nonlinear susceptibilities reach their maxima. In that case spatial dispersion may enable simultaneous generation of two harmonic signals with the same frequency and polarization but different wave vectors. We also prove that the derived expressions for nonlinear susceptibilities transform into the known form when spatial dispersion effects are negligible. In addition to revealing new physical phenomena, our results provide useful theoretical tools for analyzing resonant nonlinear metamaterials.

We present experimental and numerical investigations of planar terahertz metamaterial structures designed to interact with the state of polarization. The dependence of metamaterial resonances on polarization results in unique amplitude and phase characteristics of the terahertz transmission, providing the basis for polarimetric terahertz devices. We highlight some potential applications for polarimetric devices and present simulations of a terahertz quarter-wave plate and a polarizing terahertz beam splitter. Although this work was performed at terahertz frequencies, it may find applications in other frequency ranges as well.

We present experimental and numerical investigations of planar terahertz metamaterial structures designed to interact with the state of polarization. The dependence of metamaterial resonances on polarization results in unique amplitude and phase characteristics of the terahertz transmission, providing the basis for polarimetric terahertz devices. We highlight some potential applications for polarimetric devices and present simulations of a terahertz quarter-wave plate and a polarizing terahertz beam splitter. Although this work was performed at tcrahertz frequencies, it may find applications in other frequency ranges as well.

Metamaterials made of nanoscale inclusions or artificial unit cells exhibit exotic optical properties that do not exist in natural materials. Promising applications, such as super-resolution imaging, cloaking, hyperbolic propagation, and ultrafast phase velocities have been demonstrated based on mostly micrometer-scale metamaterials and few nanoscale metamaterials. To date, most metamaterials are created using costly and tedious fabrication techniques with limited paths toward reliable large-scale fabrication. In this work, we demonstrate the one-step direct growth of self-assembled epitaxial metal-oxide nanocomposites as a drastically different approach to fabricating large-area nanostructured metamaterials. Using pulsed laser deposition, we fabricated nanocomposite films with vertically aligned gold (Au) nanopillars (∼20 nm in diameter) embedded in various oxide matrices with high epitaxial quality. Strong, broad absorption features in the measured absorbance spectrum are clear signatures of plasmon resonances of Au nanopillars. By tuning their densities on selected substrates, anisotropic optical properties are demonstrated via angular dependent and polarization resolved reflectivity measurements and reproduced by full-wave simulations and effective medium theory. Our model predicts exotic properties, such as zero permittivity responses and topological transitions. Our studies suggest that these self-assembled metal-oxide nanostructures provide an exciting new material platform to control and enhance optical response at nanometer scales. PMID:27186652

Isotropic negative index metamaterials (NIMs) are highly desired, particularly for the realization of ultra-high resolution lenses. However, existing isotropic NIMs function only two-dimensionally and cannot be miniaturized beyond microwaves. Direct laser writing processes can be a paradigm shift toward the fabrication of three-dimensionally (3D) isotropic bulk opticalmetamaterials, but only at the expense of an additional design constraint, namely connectivity. Here, we demonstrate with a proof-of-principle design that the requirement connectivity does not preclude fully isotropic left-handed behavior. This is an important step towards the realization of bulk 3D isotropic NIMs at optical wavelengths.

Metamaterial and photonic crystal structures are central to modern optics and are typically created from multiple elementary repeating cells. We demonstrate how one replaces such structures asymptotically by a continuum, and therefore by a set of equations, that captures the behaviour of potentially high-frequency waves propagating through a periodic medium. The high-frequency homogenization that we use recovers the classical homogenization coefficients in the low-frequency long-wavelength limit. The theory is specifically developed in electromagnetics for two-dimensional square lattices where every cell contains an arbitrary hole with Neumann boundary conditions at its surface and implemented numerically for cylinders and split-ring resonators. Illustrative numerical examples include lensing via all-angle negative refraction, as well as omni-directive antenna, endoscope and cloaking effects. We also highlight the importance of choosing the correct Brillouin zone and the potential of missing interesting physical effects depending upon the path chosen. PMID:23633908

We present a metal-free tunable anisotropic metamaterial where the iso-frequency surface is tuned from elliptical to hyperbolic dispersion by exploiting the metal-insulator phase transition in the correlated material vanadium dioxide (VO{sub 2}). Using VO{sub 2}-TiO{sub 2} heterostructures, we demonstrate the transition in the effective dielectric constant parallel to the layers to undergo a sign change from positive to negative as the VO{sub 2} undergoes the phase transition. The possibility to tune the iso-frequency surface in real time using external perturbations such as temperature, voltage, or optical pulses creates new avenues for controlling light-matter interaction.

Surface plasmons are electromagnetic waves that can exist at metal interfaces because of coupling between light and free electrons. Restricted to travel along the interface, these waves can be channeled, concentrated, or otherwise manipulated by surface patterning. However, because surface roughness and other inhomogeneities have so far limited surface-plasmon propagation in real plasmonic devices, simple high-throughput methods are needed to fabricate high-quality patterned metals. We combined template stripping with precisely patterned silicon substrates to obtain ultrasmooth pure metal films with grooves, bumps, pyramids, ridges, and holes. Measured surface-plasmon-propagation lengths on the resulting surfaces approach theoretical values for perfectly flat films. With the use of our method, we demonstrated structures that exhibit Raman scattering enhancements above 10(7) for sensing applications and multilayer films for opticalmetamaterials. PMID:19644116

Recent developments in microscale flow mixing provide a promising alternative for lab-on-a-chip applications. However, accurate estimation of microscale mixing performance inside microfluidic channels remains a significant challenge. This process is limited by inevitable image aberrations and the distortion of microscopic imaging systems. In this study, we numerically present metamaterial-based optical sensors composed of periodic subwavelength H-shaped metallic resonators to evaluate the mixing efficiency of microfluidic mixers. Mixing performance was detected by exciting metamaterial sensors with near-infrared (NIR) light without additional optical couplers. Thus, the detection system was inexpensive and easy to operate. Notably, a large localized electromagnetic field up to 2 × 109 could be excited, whereas wavelengths of incident light matched the resonant conditions of metallic metamaterial arrays using the presented concept. The resulting figure of merit in terms of the detection sensitivity versus the full width at half maximum of the resonant peak reached a considerable value of 1.1. This study provides a promising detection method with sound sensing performance and the ability to be integrated with micromixing devices.

Metal/dielectric heterostructures with extreme anisotropy and topologically nontrivial dispersion are of fundamental and applied interest due to unique optical and opto-electronic properties. Here we demonstrate that, surprisingly, such systems exhibit a broadband non-unity magnetic response. Typically the electromagnetic properties of such metal-dielectric stacks are deduced from effective medium theories for unbounded, i.e., infinite in size periodic arrangements (c.f., Maxwell-Garnett approximation). In this talk, we show that this description is incomplete for metamaterials with finite number of layers. We demonstrate that a few-layer metal-dielectric metamaterial exhibits a non-unity magnetic permeability across the whole visible spectrum. The response can be diamagnetic or paramagnetic depending on the type of the terminating layers: metallic or dielectric, with non-resonant magnetic permeability that can be engineered to attain values as low as -2 or as high as 2. We have developed a theoretical model that explains the underlying mechanism. We further experimentally validate non-unity effective permeability in the optical range of frequencies. Ag/SiO2 and Ge-based metamaterials fabricated with electron beam evaporation are characterized by ellipsometric measurements and also phase and amplitude of transmittance/reflectance. These results open pathways for creating broadband subwavelength magnetic structures in the visible regime.

We propose a scheme to realize a lossless propagation of linear and nonlinear Airy surface polaritons (SPs) via active Raman gain (ARG). The system we suggest is a planar interface superposed by a negative index metamaterial (NIMM) and a dielectric, where three-level quantum emitters are doped. By using the ARG from the quantum emitters and the destructive interference effect between the electric and magnetic responses from the NIMM, we show that not only the Ohmic loss of the NIMM but also the light absorption of the quantum emitters can be completely eliminated. As a result, non-diffractive Airy SPs may propagate for very long distance without attenuation. We also show that the Kerr nonlinearity of the system can be largely enhanced due to the introduction of the quantum emitters and hence lossless Airy surface polaritonic solitons with very low power can be generated in the system.

We propose a scheme to realize a lossless propagation of linear and nonlinear Airy surface polaritons (SPs) via active Raman gain (ARG). The system we suggest is a planar interface superposed by a negative index metamaterial (NIMM) and a dielectric, where three-level quantum emitters are doped. By using the ARG from the quantum emitters and the destructive interference effect between the electric and magnetic responses from the NIMM, we show that not only the Ohmic loss of the NIMM but also the light absorption of the quantum emitters can be completely eliminated. As a result, non-diffractive Airy SPs may propagate for very long distance without attenuation. We also show that the Kerr nonlinearity of the system can be largely enhanced due to the introduction of the quantum emitters and hence lossless Airy surface polaritonic solitons with very low power can be generated in the system. PMID:26891795

We propose a scheme to realize a lossless propagation of linear and nonlinear Airy surface polaritons (SPs) via active Raman gain (ARG). The system we suggest is a planar interface superposed by a negative index metamaterial (NIMM) and a dielectric, where three-level quantum emitters are doped. By using the ARG from the quantum emitters and the destructive interference effect between the electric and magnetic responses from the NIMM, we show that not only the Ohmic loss of the NIMM but also the light absorption of the quantum emitters can be completely eliminated. As a result, non-diffractive Airy SPs may propagate for very long distance without attenuation. We also show that the Kerr nonlinearity of the system can be largely enhanced due to the introduction of the quantum emitters and hence lossless Airy surface polaritonic solitons with very low power can be generated in the system. PMID:26891795

We examine theoretically the Casimir effect between a metallic plate and several types of magnetic metamaterials in pursuit of Casimir repulsion, by employing a rigorous multiple-scattering theory for the Casimir effect. We first examine metamaterials in the form of two-dimensional lattices of inherently nonmagnetic spheres such as spheres made from materials possessing phonon-polariton and exciton-polariton resonances. Although such systems are magnetically active in infrared and optical regimes, the force between finite slabs of these materials and metallic slabs is plainly attractive since the effective electric permittivity is larger than the magnetic permeability for the studied spectrum. When lattices of magnetic spheres made from superparamagnetic composites are employed, we achieve not only Casimir repulsion but almost total suppression of the Casimir effect itself in the micrometer scale. PMID:19792414

A visible negative-index metamaterial was fabricated by adopting a template-assisted and self-assembled electrochemical deposition method. Originating from the inherent characteristic of bottom-up fabrication, it has been demonstrated by the effective medium theory that the metamaterial resonance could realize a negative index at visible wavelengths if the degree of asymmetry is kept in a moderate range. This was experimentally substantiated by fabricating an asymmetric Ag–polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)–Ag multilayer nanostructure with two apertured silver films on the opposite sides of PVA film. The extraction of constitutive parameters shows negative index in the wavelength range from 535 to 565 nm, with a minimum value close to −0.5. Simultaneously, an optically active medium Rhodamine B was incorporated into the PVA layer, which readily changed the transmission peak through control experiments. Finally, the enhanced transmission was realized through a flat sample. PMID:24736692

In this Letter, we experimentally demonstrate the possibility to obtain an improved transmittance from metal-dielectric multilayer metamaterials at optical frequencies. In order to achieve this goal, a properly designed one-dimensional silver diffraction grating has been fabricated on top of two different multilayer structures such as Au/Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} and Au/SiO{sub 2}. It has been observed that the improved transmittance at various resonant wavelength bands is possible from the metal-dielectric metamaterials when it is coupled with a properly designed metallic diffraction grating. The obtained results can be expected to find variety of potential applications including high-efficiency solar cells.

The properties of Kummer beams propagation and transformation in opticalmetamaterials are studied. The possibility is established and conditions are determined for unidirectional and opposite directional propagation of Kummer light beams phase and the longitudinal component of its energy flux in metamaterials. The reflection and refraction coefficients of arbitrary Kummer beam are represented as superposition of linear combinations of reflection and refraction ones of TM- and TE- polarized Kummer beams. These properties are studied in the LG (Laguerre-Gaussian) beams and in Bessel beams. The main goal is to compare these three beams and to show the Kummeŕs advantage. To use these mathematical functions a Computer Algebra Software has been used, specifically Maple.

Plasmonics has brought revolutionary advances to laser science by enabling deeply subwavelength nanolasers through surface plasmon amplification. However, the impact of plasmonics on other promising laser systems has so far remained elusive. Here, we present a class of random lasers enabled by three-dimensional plasmonic nanorod metamaterials. While dense metallic nanostructures are usually detrimental to laser performance due to absorption losses, here the lasing threshold keeps decreasing as the volume fraction of metal is increased up to ∼0.07. This is ∼460 times higher than the optimal volume fraction reported thus far. The laser supports spatially confined lasing modes and allows for efficient modulation of spectral profiles by simply tuning the polarization of the pump light. Full-field speckle-free imaging at micron-scales has been achieved by using plasmonic random lasers as the illumination sources. Our findings show that plasmonic metamaterials hold potential to enable intriguing coherent optical sources. PMID:27023052

Metamaterial absorbers have been demonstrated across much of the electromagnetic spectrum and exhibit both broad and narrow-band absorption for normally incident radiation. Absorption diminishes for increasing angles of incidence and transverse electric polarization falls off much more rapidly than transverse magnetic. We unambiguously demonstrate that broad-angle TM behavior cannot be associated with periodicity, but rather is due to coupling with a surface electromagnetic mode that is both supported by, and well described via the effective optical constants of the metamaterial where we achieve a resonant wavelength that is 19.1 times larger than the unit cell. Experimental results are supported by simulations and we highlight the potential to modify the angular response of absorbers by tailoring the surface wave. PMID:27136864

A geometrically modifiable resonator is comprised of a resonator disposed on a substrate, and a means for geometrically modifying the resonator. The geometrically modifiable resonator can achieve active optical and/or electronic control of the frequency response in metamaterials and/or frequency selective surfaces, potentially with sub-picosecond response times. Additionally, the methods taught here can be applied to discrete geometrically modifiable circuit components such as inductors and capacitors. Principally, controlled conductivity regions, using either reversible photodoping or voltage induced depletion activation, are used to modify the geometries of circuit components, thus allowing frequency tuning of resonators without otherwise affecting the bulk substrate electrical properties. The concept is valid over any frequency range in which metamaterials are designed to operate.

All-dielectric metamaterials offer a potential low-loss alternative to plasmonic metamaterials at optical frequencies. Here, we experimentally demonstrate a silicon based large-scale magnetic metamaterial, which is fabricated with standard photolithography and conventional reactive ion etching process. The periodically arrayed silicon sub-wavelength structures possess electric and magnetic responses with low loss in mid-infrared wavelength range. We investigate the electric and magnetic resonances dependencies on the structural parameters and demonstrate the possibility of obtaining strong dielectric-based magnetic resonance through a broad band range. The optical responses are quite uniform over a large area about 2 × 2 cm2. The scalability of this design and compatibility fabrication method with highly developed semiconductor devices process could lead to new avenues of manipulating light for low-loss, large-area and real integrated photonic applications. PMID:27194105

All-dielectric metamaterials offer a potential low-loss alternative to plasmonic metamaterials at optical frequencies. Here, we experimentally demonstrate a silicon based large-scale magnetic metamaterial, which is fabricated with standard photolithography and conventional reactive ion etching process. The periodically arrayed silicon sub-wavelength structures possess electric and magnetic responses with low loss in mid-infrared wavelength range. We investigate the electric and magnetic resonances dependencies on the structural parameters and demonstrate the possibility of obtaining strong dielectric-based magnetic resonance through a broad band range. The optical responses are quite uniform over a large area about 2 × 2 cm2. The scalability of this design and compatibility fabrication method with highly developed semiconductor devices process could lead to new avenues of manipulating light for low-loss, large-area and real integrated photonic applications.

All-dielectric metamaterials offer a potential low-loss alternative to plasmonic metamaterials at optical frequencies. Here, we experimentally demonstrate a silicon based large-scale magnetic metamaterial, which is fabricated with standard photolithography and conventional reactive ion etching process. The periodically arrayed silicon sub-wavelength structures possess electric and magnetic responses with low loss in mid-infrared wavelength range. We investigate the electric and magnetic resonances dependencies on the structural parameters and demonstrate the possibility of obtaining strong dielectric-based magnetic resonance through a broad band range. The optical responses are quite uniform over a large area about 2 × 2 cm(2). The scalability of this design and compatibility fabrication method with highly developed semiconductor devices process could lead to new avenues of manipulating light for low-loss, large-area and real integrated photonic applications. PMID:27194105

Light reflection and refraction at an interface between two homogeneous media is analytically described by Snell's law. For a beam with a finite waist, it turns out that the reflected wave experiences a lateral displacement from its position predicted by geometric optics. Such Goos-Hänchen (G-H) effect has been extensively investigated among all kinds of optical media, such as dielectrics, metals, photonic crystals and metamaterials. As a fundamental physics phenomenon, the G-H effect has been extended to acoustics and quantum mechanics. Here we report the unusual G-H effect in zero index metamaterials. We show that when linearly polarized light is obliquely incident from air to epsilon-near-zero metamaterials, no G-H effect could be observed for p polarized light. While for s polarization, the G-H shift is a constant value for any incident angle. PMID:25731726

We report the experimental realization of an opticalmetamaterial composed of a hexagonal array of coaxial plasmonic metal/insulator/metal waveguides that shows strong polarization-independent optical mode index dispersion in the ultraviolet/blue. The metamaterial is composed of silicon coaxes with a well-defined diameter in the range of 150–168 nm with extremely thin sidewalls (13–15 nm), embedded in a silver film, fabricated using a combination of electron beam lithography, physical vapor deposition, reactive ion etching, and focused ion beam polishing. Using a Mach–Zehnder interferometer the phase advance is measured on several metamaterial samples with different dimensions in the UV/visible part of the spectrum. For all geometries the spectral features as well as the geometry dependence of the data correspond well with numerical finite-difference time domain simulations and the calculated waveguide dispersion diagram, showing a negative mode index between 440 and 500 nm. PMID:25310377

We report the experimental realization of an opticalmetamaterial composed of a hexagonal array of coaxial plasmonic metal/insulator/metal waveguides that shows strong polarization-independent optical mode index dispersion in the ultraviolet/blue. The metamaterial is composed of silicon coaxes with a well-defined diameter in the range of 150-168 nm with extremely thin sidewalls (13-15 nm), embedded in a silver film, fabricated using a combination of electron beam lithography, physical vapor deposition, reactive ion etching, and focused ion beam polishing. Using a Mach-Zehnder interferometer the phase advance is measured on several metamaterial samples with different dimensions in the UV/visible part of the spectrum. For all geometries the spectral features as well as the geometry dependence of the data correspond well with numerical finite-difference time domain simulations and the calculated waveguide dispersion diagram, showing a negative mode index between 440 and 500 nm. PMID:25310377

We propose an optically controlled reconfigurable hybrid metamaterial waveguide system at terahertz frequencies, which consists of a two dimensional gold cut wire array deposited on top of a dielectric slab waveguide. Numerical findings reveal that this device is able to realize dynamic transformation from double electromagnetically induced transparency like material to ultra-narrow band guided mode resonance (GMR) filter by controlling the optically excited free carriers in gallium arsenide pads inserted between the gold cut wires. During this reconfiguration process of resonance modes, high quality factors up to ~104 and ~118 for the two EIT-like peaks and up to ~578 for the GMR filter are obtained. PMID:27505788

The Casimir force between graphene sheets and metamaterials is studied. Theoretical results based on the Lifshitz theory for layered, planar, two-dimensional systems in media are presented. We consider graphene-graphene, graphene-metamaterial, and metal-graphene-metamaterial configurations. We find that quantum effects of the temperature-dependent force are not apparent until the submicron range. In contrast to results with bulk dielectric and bulk metallic materials, no Casimir repulsion is found when graphene is placed on top of a magnetically active metamaterial substrate, regardless of the strength of the low-frequency magnetic response. In the case of the metal-graphene-metamaterial setting, repulsion between the metamaterial and the metal-graphene system is possible only when the dielectric response from the metal contributes significantly.

Although all-dielectric metamaterials offer a low-loss alternative to current metal-based metamaterials to manipulate light at the nanoscale and may have important applications, very few have been reported to date owing to the current nanofabrication technologies. We develop a new “nano–solid-fluid assembly” method using 15-nm TiO2 nanoparticles as building blocks to fabricate the first three-dimensional (3D) all-dielectric metamaterial at visible frequencies. Because of its optical transparency, high refractive index, and deep-subwavelength structures, this 3D all-dielectric metamaterial-based solid immersion lens (mSIL) can produce a sharp image with a super-resolution of at least 45 nm under a white-light optical microscope, significantly exceeding the classical diffraction limit and previous near-field imaging techniques. Theoretical analysis reveals that electric field enhancement can be formed between contacting TiO2 nanoparticles, which causes effective confinement and propagation of visible light at the deep-subwavelength scale. This endows the mSIL with unusual abilities to illuminate object surfaces with large-area nanoscale near-field evanescent spots and to collect and convert the evanescent information into propagating waves. Our all-dielectric metamaterial design strategy demonstrates the potential to develop low-loss nanophotonic devices at visible frequencies. PMID:27536727

Although all-dielectric metamaterials offer a low-loss alternative to current metal-based metamaterials to manipulate light at the nanoscale and may have important applications, very few have been reported to date owing to the current nanofabrication technologies. We develop a new "nano-solid-fluid assembly" method using 15-nm TiO2 nanoparticles as building blocks to fabricate the first three-dimensional (3D) all-dielectric metamaterial at visible frequencies. Because of its optical transparency, high refractive index, and deep-subwavelength structures, this 3D all-dielectric metamaterial-based solid immersion lens (mSIL) can produce a sharp image with a super-resolution of at least 45 nm under a white-light optical microscope, significantly exceeding the classical diffraction limit and previous near-field imaging techniques. Theoretical analysis reveals that electric field enhancement can be formed between contacting TiO2 nanoparticles, which causes effective confinement and propagation of visible light at the deep-subwavelength scale. This endows the mSIL with unusual abilities to illuminate object surfaces with large-area nanoscale near-field evanescent spots and to collect and convert the evanescent information into propagating waves. Our all-dielectric metamaterial design strategy demonstrates the potential to develop low-loss nanophotonic devices at visible frequencies. PMID:27536727

Improvement in high-temperature stable spectrally selective absorbers and emitters is integral for the further development of thermophotovoltaic (TPV), lighting and solar thermal applications. However, the high operational temperatures (T>1000oC) required for efﬁcient energy conversion, along with application specific criteria such as the operational range of low bandgap semiconductors, greatly restrict what can be accomplished with natural materials. Motivated by this challenge, we demonstrate the first example of high temperature thermal radiation engineering with metamaterials. By employing the naturally selective thermal excitation of radiative modes that occurs near topological transitions, we show that thermally stable highly selective emissivity features are achieved for temperatures up to 1000°C with low angular dependence in a sub-micron thick refractory tungsten/hafnium dioxide epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) metamaterial. We also investigate the main mechanisms of thermal degradation of the fabricated refractory metamaterial both in terms of optical performance and structural stability using spectral analysis and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) techniques. Importantly, we observe chemical stability of the constituent materials for temperatures up to 1000°C and structural stability beyond 1100°C. The scalable fabrication, requiring magnetron sputtering, and thermally robust optical properties of this metamaterial approach are ideally suited to high temperature emitter applications such as lighting or TPV. Our findings provide a first concrete proof of radiative engineering with high temperature topological transition in ENZ metamaterials, and establish a clear path for implementation in TPV energy harvesting applications.

We report the existence of Weyl points in a class of noncentral symmetric metamaterials, which has time reversal symmetry, but does not have inversion symmetry due to chiral coupling between electric and magnetic fields. This class of metamaterial exhibits either type-I or type-II Weyl points depending on its nonlocal response. We also provide a physical realization of such metamaterial consisting of an array of metal wires in the shape of elliptical helices which exhibits type-II Weyl points.

Microwave metamaterials have shown promise in numerous applications, ranging from strip lines and antennas to metamaterial-based electron beam driven devices. In general, metamaterials allow microwave designers to obtain electromagnetic characteristics not typically available in nature. High Power Microwave (HPM) sources have in the past drawn inspiration from work done in the conventional microwave source community. In this article, the use of metamaterials in an HPM application is considered by using an effective medium model to determine the coupling of an electron beam to a metamaterial structure in a geometry similar to that of a dielectric Cerenkov maser. Use of the effective medium model allows for the analysis of a wide range of parameter space, including the “mu-negative,”“epsilon-negative,” and “double negative” regimes of the metamaterial. The physics of such a system are modeled analytically and by utilizing the particle-in-cell code ICEPIC. For this geometry and effective medium representation, optimum coupling of the electron beam to the metamaterial, and thus the optimum microwave or RF production, occurs in the epsilon negative regime of the metamaterial. Given that HPM tubes have been proposed that utilize a metamaterial, this model provides a rapid method of characterizing a source geometry that can be used to quickly understand the basic physics of such an HPM device.

The concept of artificially structured metamateials arises as a promising solution to offer broad tunability of material properties. Rather than on its chemical composition, macroscopic properties of metamateirals depend on the hierarchical assembly of the "artificial atoms" of the structure. Many novel designs have been reported to enable exotic properties of metamaterials. However, experimental realization of these designs is facing a great challenge due to stringent requirements on precise fabrication of subwavelength fine features in three dimensional (3D). In this dissertation, we aim to create powerful and reliable 3D fabrication approaches to bridge the gap between design and realization. Three dimensional fabrication of terahertz (THz) metamaterial and opticalmetamaterial by additive manufacturing approaches are demonstrated. For fabricating THz metamaterials, the design and testing of a scalable projection micro-stereo-lithography system that offers the 3D fabrication capability is presented. By taking advantage of transformation optics theory, a study in design, fabrication, and characterization of the THz invisibility cloak was performed. The cloak successfully concealed both the geometrical and spectroscopic signatures of an alpha-lactose monohydrate absorber, making it undetectable from 0.3 to 0.6 THz. Following this successful demonstration, we further created the broadband 3D flattened Luneburg lens for THz imaging. The lens is transformed from its original spherical shape and can focus THz plane waves from ultra-wide angles at the focal plane without geometrical aberrations, and vice versa. 2D imaging independent of polarizations is demonstrated. For opticalmetamaterial, we developed nanoimprint lithography and nanotransfer printing process to realize 3D nano-grating structure in an additive fashion. Based on this method, we successfully designed and created the upright U-shaped spit ring resonators (SRRs) showing artificial magnetism beyond the

An approach is proposed that ensures a theoretically unlimited improvement in the sensitivity of ring laser gyroscopes (RLGs) to rotation. Basic to this approach is the filling of the optical path in an RLG (outside its gain element) with two different optical media: a conventional optical medium with a refractive index n > 1 and a so-called metamaterial with n < 0. We consider effects that limit the real sensitivity of the proposed approach.

Optical sensor technology offers significant opportunities in the field of medical research and clinical diagnostics, particularly for the detection of small numbers of molecules in highly diluted solutions. Several methods have been developed for this purpose, including label-free plasmonic biosensors based on metamaterials. However, the detection of lower-molecular-weight (<500 Da) biomolecules in highly diluted solutions is still a challenging issue owing to their lower polarizability. In this context, we have developed a miniaturized plasmonic biosensor platform based on a hyperbolic metamaterial that can support highly confined bulk plasmon guided modes over a broad wavelength range from visible to near infrared. By exciting these modes using a grating-coupling technique, we achieved different extreme sensitivity modes with a maximum of 30,000 nm per refractive index unit (RIU) and a record figure of merit (FOM) of 590. We report the ability of the metamaterial platform to detect ultralow-molecular-weight (244 Da) biomolecules at picomolar concentrations using a standard affinity model streptavidin–biotin. PMID:27019384

Optical sensor technology offers significant opportunities in the field of medical research and clinical diagnostics, particularly for the detection of small numbers of molecules in highly diluted solutions. Several methods have been developed for this purpose, including label-free plasmonic biosensors based on metamaterials. However, the detection of lower-molecular-weight (<500 Da) biomolecules in highly diluted solutions is still a challenging issue owing to their lower polarizability. In this context, we have developed a miniaturized plasmonic biosensor platform based on a hyperbolic metamaterial that can support highly confined bulk plasmon guided modes over a broad wavelength range from visible to near infrared. By exciting these modes using a grating-coupling technique, we achieved different extreme sensitivity modes with a maximum of 30,000 nm per refractive index unit (RIU) and a record figure of merit (FOM) of 590. We report the ability of the metamaterial platform to detect ultralow-molecular-weight (244 Da) biomolecules at picomolar concentrations using a standard affinity model streptavidin-biotin.

Scientists are looking for new, breakthrough solutions that can greatly advance computing and networking systems. These solutions will involve quantum properties of matter and light as promised by the ongoing experimental and theoretical work in the areas of quantum computation and communication. Quantum photonics is destined to play a central role in the development of such technologies due to the high transmission capacity and outstanding low-noise properties of photonic information channels. Among the vital problems to be solved in this direction, are efficient generation and collection of single photons. One approach to tackle these problems is based on engineering emission properties of available single-photon sources using metamaterials. Metamaterials are artificially engineered structures with sub-wavelength features whose optical properties go beyond the limitations of conventional materials. As promising single-photon sources, we have chosen nitrogen-vacancy (NV) color centers in diamond, which are capable to operate stably in a single-photon regime at room temperature in a solid state environment. In this chapter, we report both theoretical and experimental studies of the radiation from a nanodiamond single NV center placed near a hyperbolic metamaterial (HMM). In particular, we derive the reduction of excited-state lifetime and the enhancement of collected single-photon emission rate and compare them with the experimental observations. These results could be of great impact for future integrated quantum sources, especially owing to a CMOS-compatible approach to HMM synthesis.

Optical sensor technology offers significant opportunities in the field of medical research and clinical diagnostics, particularly for the detection of small numbers of molecules in highly diluted solutions. Several methods have been developed for this purpose, including label-free plasmonic biosensors based on metamaterials. However, the detection of lower-molecular-weight (<500 Da) biomolecules in highly diluted solutions is still a challenging issue owing to their lower polarizability. In this context, we have developed a miniaturized plasmonic biosensor platform based on a hyperbolic metamaterial that can support highly confined bulk plasmon guided modes over a broad wavelength range from visible to near infrared. By exciting these modes using a grating-coupling technique, we achieved different extreme sensitivity modes with a maximum of 30,000 nm per refractive index unit (RIU) and a record figure of merit (FOM) of 590. We report the ability of the metamaterial platform to detect ultralow-molecular-weight (244 Da) biomolecules at picomolar concentrations using a standard affinity model streptavidin-biotin. PMID:27019384

A uniaxial chiral metamaterial is constructed by double-layered four 'U' split ring resonators mutually twisted by 90{sup o}. It shows a giant optical activity and circular dichroism. The retrieval results reveal that a negative refractive index is realized for circularly polarized waves due to the large chirality. The experimental results are in good agreement with the numerical results.

By leveraging metamaterials and compressive imaging, a low-profile aperture capable of microwave imaging without lenses, moving parts, or phase shifters is demonstrated. This designer aperture allows image compression to be performed on the physical hardware layer rather than in the postprocessing stage, thus averting the detector, storage, and transmission costs associated with full diffraction-limited sampling of a scene. A guided-wave metamaterial aperture is used to perform compressive image reconstruction at 10 frames per second of two-dimensional (range and angle) sparse still and video scenes at K-band (18 to 26 gigahertz) frequencies, using frequency diversity to avoid mechanical scanning. Image acquisition is accomplished with a 40:1 compression ratio.

Mechanical properties of materials have long been one of the most fundamental and studied areas of materials science for a myriad of applications. Recently, mechanical metamaterials have been shown to possess extraordinary effective properties, such as negative dynamic modulus and/or density, phononic bandgaps, superior thermoelectric properties, and high specific energy absorption. To obtain such materials on appropriate length scales to enable novel mechanical devices, it is often necessary to effectively design and fabricate micro-/nano- structured materials. In this Review, various aspects of the micro-/nano-structured materials as mechanical metamaterials, potential tools for their multidimensional fabrication, and selected methods for their structural and performance characterization are described, as well as some prospects for the future developments in this exciting and emerging field. PMID:22899377

We give a detailed account of equilibrium and non-equilibrium fluctuational electrodynamics of hyperbolic metamaterials. We show the unifying aspects of two different approaches; one utilizes the second kind of fluctuation dissipation theorem and the other makes use of the scattering method. We analyze the near-field of hyperbolic media at finite temperatures and show that the lack of spatial coherence can be attributed to the multi-modal nature of super-Planckian thermal emission. We also adopt the analysis to phonon-polaritonic super-lattice metamaterials and describe the regimes suitable for experimental verification of our predicted effects. The results reveal that far-field thermal emission spectra are dominated by epsilon-near-zero and epsilon-near-pole responses as expected from Kirchoff's laws. Our work should aid both theorists and experimentalists to study complex media and engineer equilibrium and non-equilibrium fluctuations for applications in thermal photonics.

Chirality is ubiquitous in nature. The associated optical activity has received much attention due to important applications in spectroscopy, analytical chemistry, crystallography and optics, however, artificial chiral optical materials are complex and difficult to fabricate, especially in the optical range. Here, we propose an ultrathin dual-polarity metamaterial circular polarizer by exploiting the mechanism of giant extrinsic chirality. The polarity of the circular polarizer with large suppression of linear anisotropy can be switched by changing the sign of incident angle. The microwave experiments and optical simulations demonstrate that the large angle of incidence facilitates the high-efficiency circular polarizer, which can be realized in the whole spectra from microwave to visible frequencies. The ultrathin single-layer metamaterials with extrinsic chirality will be a promising candidate for circular polarization devices. PMID:26559746

This paper reports the scattering of electromagnetic plane wave by annular metamaterials composed of concentric regular dielectric layers of infinite length. Interestingly, in certain frequency ranges, their scattering properties are similar to those of a perfect electric conductor cylinder, except that the tangential electric field on their surfaces does not vanish. Moreover, the frequency bands of total reflection spectra can be rigorously predicted using Floquet-Bloch theorem.

We present a novel concept for ophthalmic glucose sensing using a biosensing system that consists of plasmonic dipole metamaterial covered by a layer of functionalized hydrogel. The metamaterial together with the hydrogel can be integrated into a contact lens. This optical sensor changes its properties such as reflectivity upon the ambient glucose concentration, which allows in situ measurements in the eye. The functionalization of the sensor with hydrogel allows for a glucose-specific detection, providing both selectivity and sensitivity. As a result of the presented work we derive a dynamic model of the hydrogel that can be used for further simulation studies. PMID:25570394

A fast and cheap, large-area (>1 cm(2)), high-coverage fabrication technique for periodic metallic split-ring resonator metamaterials is presented, which allows control of inner- and outer-ring diameters, gap angles, as well as thickness and periodicity. This method, based on shadow nanosphere lithography, uses tilted-angle-rotation thermal evaporation onto Langmuir-Blodgett-type monolayers of close-packed polystyrene nanospheres. Excellent agreement of the process parameters with a simplified model is demonstrated. Pronounced, tunable opticalmetamaterial resonances in the range of 100 THz are consistent with simulations. PMID:19148886

Frameworks - stiff elements with freely hinged joints - model the mechanics of a wide range of natural and artificial structures, including mechanical metamaterials with auxetic and topological properties. The unusual properties of the structure depend crucially on the balance between degrees of freedom associated with the nodes, and the constraints imposed upon them by the connecting elements. Whereas networks of featureless nodes connected by central-force springs have been well-studied, many real-world systems such as frictional granular packings, gear assemblies, and flexible beam meshes incorporate torsional degrees of freedom on the nodes, coupled together with transverse shear forces exerted by the connecting elements. We study the consequences of such torsional constraints on the mechanics of periodic isostatic networks as a foundation for mechanical metamaterials. We demonstrate the existence of soft modes of topological origin, that are protected against disorder or small perturbations of the structure analogously to their counterparts in electronic topological insulators. We have built a lattice of gears connected by rigid beams that provides a real-world demonstration of a torsional metamaterial with topological edge modes and mechanical Weyl modes.

Negative thermal expansion materials are important and desirable in science and engineering applications. However, natural materials with isotropic negative thermal expansion are rare and usually unsatisfied in performance. Here, we propose a novel method to achieve two- and three-dimensional negative thermal expansion metamaterials via antichiral structures. The two-dimensional metamaterial is constructed with unit cells that combine bimaterial strips and antichiral structures, while the three-dimensional metamaterial is fabricated by a multimaterial 3D printing process. Both experimental and simulation results display isotropic negative thermal expansion property of the samples. The effective coefficient of negative thermal expansion of the proposed models is demonstrated to be dependent on the difference between the thermal expansion coefficient of the component materials, as well as on the circular node radius and the ligament length in the antichiral structures. The measured value of the linear negative thermal expansion coefficient of the three-dimensional sample is among the largest achieved in experiments to date. Our findings provide an easy and practical approach to obtaining materials with tunable negative thermal expansion on any scale. PMID:27333052

This article reviews the development of metamaterials (MM), starting from Newton's discovery of the wave equation, and ends with a discussion of the need for a technical taxonomy (classification) of these materials, along with a better defined definition of metamaterials. It is intended to be a technical definition of metamaterials, based on a historical perspective. The evolution of MMs began with the discovery of the wave equation, traceable back to Newton's calculation of the speed of sound. The theory of sound evolved to include quasi-statics (Helmholtz) and the circuit equations of Kirchhoff's circuit laws, leading to the ultimate development of Maxwell's equations and the equation for the speed of light. Be it light, or sound, the speed of the wave-front travel defines the wavelength, and thus the quasi-static (QS) approximation. But there is much more at stake than QSs. Taxonomy requires a proper statement of the laws of physics, which includes at least the six basic network postulates: (P1) causality (non-causal/acausal), (P2) linearity (non-linear), (P3) real (complex) time response, (P4) passive (active), (P5) time-invariant (time varying), and (P6) reciprocal (non-reciprocal). These six postulates are extended to include MMs. PMID:27369168

All of the proposed ever since designs of metamaterials are characterized by ever-increasing sophistication of fabrication methods. Here, a comparatively simple recipe for the fabrication of a metamaterial, which is both gyrotropic and of the simultaneously negative permittivity and permeability, is proposed. The idea is to make a mixture of three ingredients, where one of them would be responsible for the negativity of μ, while the other two would be responsible for the negativity of ε. The first component of the mixture is the “swarm” of single-domain ferromagnetic nano-particles, immersed in a mixture of other two, silver and mercury cadmium telluride. By carrying out the computer simulations, the domains of gyromagnetic metamaterial exist, relative to all parameters characterizing the model, that is, the temperature, external magnetic field, parameters of nano-particles, and the fraction of cadmium in Hg{sub 1−x}Cd{sub x}Te-compound as well as relative concentrations of the mixture components are established.

Thanks to Victor Veselago for his hypothesis of negative index of refraction, meta-materials — engineered composites — can be designed to have properties difficult or impossible to find in nature: they can have both electrical permittivity (ɛ) and magnetic permeability (μ) simultaneously negative. The metamaterials — henceforth negative-index materials (NIMs) — owe their properties to subwavelength structure rather than to their chemical composition. The tailored electromagnetic response of the NIMs has had a dramatic impact on classical optics: they are becoming known to have changed many basic notions related with electromagnetism. The present article is focused on gathering and reviewing fundamental characteristics of plasmon propagation in coaxial cables fabricated of the right-handed medium (RHM) (with ɛ > 0, μ > 0) and the left-handed medium (LHM) (with ɛ < 0, μ < 0) in alternate shells starting from the innermost cable. Such structures as conceived here may pave the way to some interesting effects in relation to, for example, optical science exploiting the cylindrical symmetry of coaxial waveguides that make it possible to perform all major functions of an optical fiber communication system in which the light is born, manipulated, and transmitted without ever leaving the fiber environment, with precise control over the polarization rotation and pulse broadening. This review also covers briefly the nomenclature, classification, potential applications, and the limitations (related, for example, to the inherent losses) of the NIMs and their impact on classical electrodynamics in general, and in designing the cloaking devices in particular. A recent surge in efforts on invisibility and the cloaking devices seems to have spoiled the researchers worldwide: proposals include not only a way to hide an object without having to wrap the cloak around it, but also to replace a given object with another, thus adding to the deception even further! All this

Metamaterials are artificial materials engineered to provide properties which may not be readily available in nature. The development of such class of materials constitutes a new area of research that has grown significantly over the past decade. Acoustic metamaterials, specifically, are even more novel than their electromagnetic counterparts arising only in the latter half of the decade. Acoustic metamaterials provide a new tool in controlling the propagation of pressure waves. However, physical design and frequency tuning, is still a large obstacle when creating a new acoustic metamaterial. This dissertation describes active and programmable design for acoustic metamaterials which allows the same basic physical design principles to be used for a variety of application. With cloaking technology being of a great interest to the US Navy, the proposed design approach would enable the development of a metamaterial with spatially changing effective parameters while retaining a uniform physical design features. The effective parameters would be controlled by tuning smart actuators embedded inside the metamaterial structure. Since this design is based on dynamic effective parameters that can be electrically controlled, material property ranges of several orders of magnitude could potentially be achieved without changing any physical parameters. With such unique capabilities, physically realizable acoustic cloaks can be achieved and objects treated with these active metamaterials can become acoustically invisible.

Metamaterials offer a new approach to create surface coatings with highly customizable electromagnetic absorption from the microwave to the optical regimes. Thus far, efficient metamaterial absorbers have been demonstrated at microwave frequencies, with recent efforts aimed at much shorter terahertz and infrared wavelengths. The present infrared absorbers have been constructed from arrays of nanoscale metal resonators with simple circular or cross-shaped geometries, which provide a single band response. In this paper, we demonstrate a conformal metamaterial absorber with a narrow band, polarization-independent absorptivity of >90% over a wide ±50° angular range centered at mid-infrared wavelengths of 3.3 and 3.9 μm. The highly efficient dual-band metamaterial was realized by using a genetic algorithm to identify an array of H-shaped nanoresonators with an effective electric and magnetic response that maximizes absorption in each wavelength band when patterned on a flexible Kapton and Au thin film substrate stack. This conformal metamaterial absorber maintains its absorption properties when integrated onto curved surfaces of arbitrary materials, making it attractive for advanced coatings that suppress the infrared reflection from the protected surface. PMID:21456579

Metamaterials designed for the visible or near IR wavelengths require patterning on the nanometer scale. To achieve this, e-beam lithography is used, but it is extremely difficult and can only produce 2D structures. A new alternative technique to produce 2D and 3D structures involves laser fabrication using the Nanoscribe 3D laser lithography system. This is a direct laser writing technique which can form arbitrary 3D nanostructures on the nanometer scale and is based on multi-photon polymerization. We are creating 2D and 3D metamaterials via this technique, and subsequently conformally coating them using Atomic Layer Deposition of oxides and Ag. We will discuss the optical properties of these novel composite structures and their potential for dual resonant metamaterials.

Planar metasurfaces and plasmonic resonators have shown great promise for sensing applications across the electromagnetic domain ranging from the microwaves to the optical frequencies. However, these sensors suffer from lower figure of merit and sensitivity due to the radiative and the non-radiative loss channels in the plasmonic metamaterial systems. We demonstrate a metamaterial absorber based ultrasensitive sensing scheme at the terahertz frequencies with significantly enhanced sensitivity and an order of magnitude higher figure of merit compared to planar metasurfaces. Magnetic and electric resonant field enhancement in the impedance matched absorber cavity enables stronger interaction with the dielectric analyte. This finding opens up opportunities for perfect metamaterial absorbers to be applied as efficient sensors in the finger print region of the electromagnetic spectrum with several organic, explosive, and bio-molecules that have unique spectral signature at the terahertz frequencies.

Planar metasurfaces and plasmonic resonators have shown great promise for sensing applications across the electromagnetic domain ranging from the microwaves to the optical frequencies. However, these sensors suffer from lower figure of merit and sensitivity due to the radiative and the non-radiative loss channels in the plasmonic metamaterial systems. We demonstrate a metamaterial absorber based ultrasensitive sensing scheme at the terahertz frequencies with significantly enhanced sensitivity and an order of magnitude higher figure of merit compared to planar metasurfaces. Magnetic and electric resonant field enhancement in the impedance matched absorber cavity enables stronger interaction with the dielectric analyte. This finding opens up opportunities for perfect metamaterial absorbers to be applied as efficient sensors in the finger print region of the electromagnetic spectrum with several organic, explosive, and bio-molecules that have unique spectral signature at the terahertz frequencies.

Manipulating the speed of light has never been more exciting since electromagnetic induced transparency and its classical analogs led to slow light. Here, we report the manipulation of light group velocity in a terahertz metamaterial without needing a dark resonator, but utilizing instead two concentric split-ring bright resonators (meta-atoms) exhibiting a bright Fano resonance in close vicinity of a bright Lorentzian resonance to create a narrowband transmittance. Unlike earlier reports, the bright Fano resonance does not stem from an asymmetry of meta-atoms or an interaction between them. Additionally, we develop a method to determine the metamaterial “effective thickness”, which quantifies the influence of the substrate on the metamaterial response and has remained challenging to estimate so far. By doing so, very good agreement between simulated and measured group delays and velocities is accomplished. The proposed structure and method will be useful in designing optical buffers, delay lines, and ultra-sensitive sensors. PMID:26395071

The Doppler effect refers to the change in frequency of a wave source as a consequence of the relative motion between the source and an observer. Veselago theoretically predicted that materials with negative refractions can induce inverse Doppler effects. With the development of metamaterials, inverse Doppler effects have been extensively investigated. However, the ideal material parameters prescribed by these metamaterial design approaches are complex and also challenging to obtain experimentally. Here, we demonstrated a method of designing and experimentally characterising arbitrary broadband acoustic metamaterials. These omni-directional, double-negative, acoustic metamaterials are constructed with 'flute-like' acoustic meta-cluster sets with seven double meta-molecules; these metamaterials also overcome the limitations of broadband negative bulk modulus and mass density to provide a region of negative refraction and inverse Doppler effects. It was also shown that inverse Doppler effects can be detected in a flute, which has been popular for thousands of years in Asia and Europe. PMID:27578317

We demonstrate tunable mid-infrared (MIR) beam steering devices based on multilayer graphene-dielectric metamaterials. The effective refractive index of such metamaterials can be manipulated by changing the chemical potential of each graphene layer. This can arbitrarily tailor the spatial distribution of the phase of the transmitted beam, providing mechanisms for active beam steering. Three different beam steerer (BS) designs are discussed: a graded-index (GRIN) graphene-based metamaterial block, an array of metallic waveguides filled with graphene-dielectric metamaterial and an array of planar waveguides created in a graphene-dielectric metamaterial block with a specific spatial profile of graphene sheets doping. The performances of the BSs are numerically analyzed, showing the tunability of the proposed designs for a wide range of output angles (up to approximately 70°). The proposed graphene-based tunable beam steering can be used in tunable transmitter/receiver modules for infrared imaging and sensing. PMID:27137318

Structuring at subwavelength scales brings out artificial media with anomalous optical features called metamaterials. All-dielectric metamaterials have high potential for practical applications over the whole electromagnetic spectrum owing to low loss and optical isotropy. Here, we report subwavelength silicon through-hole arrays as an all-dielectric gradient index metamaterial with broadband THz operation. The unit cell consists of a single subwavelength through-hole on highly resistive monocrystalline silicon. Depending on the fill-factor and period, the effective index was linearly modulated at 0.3–1.6 THz. The experimental results also demonstrate silicon gradient refractive index (Si-GRIN) lenses with parabolic index profiles through the spatial modification of a single unit cell along the radial direction. Si-GRIN lenses either focus 0.4–1.6 THz beam to the diffraction-limit or serve as a flat and thin solid immersion lens on the backside of THz photoconductive antenna for highly efficient pulse extraction. This all-dielectric gradient index metamaterial opens up opportunities for integrated THz GRIN optics.

Plasmonic nanohelix arrays are shown to interact with electromagnetic fields in ways not typically seen with ordinary matter. Chiral metamaterials (CMMs) with feature sizes small with respect to the wavelength of visible light are a promising route to experimentally achieve such phenomena as negative refraction without the need for simultaneously negative ɛ and μ. Here we not only show that giant circular dichroism in the visible is achievable with hexagonally arranged plasmonic nanohelix arrays, but that we can precisely tune the optical activity via morphology and lattice spacing. The discrete dipole approximation is implemented to support experimental data.

Manipulating and controlling the optical energy flow inside random media is a research frontier of photonics and the basis of novel laser designs. Here, we show that a metamaterial consisting of randomly dispersed graphene nanoflakes embedded within an optically pumped gain medium (rhodamine 6G) can operate as a cavity-free laser thanks to its extraordinarily low threshold for saturable absorption. The emitted light is self-organized into a well-determined spatial pattern, which depends on the graphene flake density and can be externally controlled through the optical pump. We provide different examples of tunable laser operation ranging from stable single-mode to chaoticlike behavior. Our metamaterial design holds great potential for the optical control of light amplification, as well as for the development of single-mode beam-engineered cavity-free lasers.

Manipulating and controlling the optical energy flow inside random media is a research frontier of photonics and the basis of novel laser designs. Here, we show that a metamaterial consisting of randomly dispersed graphene nanoflakes embedded within an optically pumped gain medium (rhodamine 6G) can operate as a cavity-free laser thanks to its extraordinarily low threshold for saturable absorption. The emitted light is self-organized into a well-determined spatial pattern, which depends on the graphene flake density and can be externally controlled through the optical pump. We provide different examples of tunable laser operation ranging from stable single-mode to chaoticlike behavior. Our metamaterial design holds great potential for the optical control of light amplification, as well as for the development of single-mode beam-engineered cavity-free lasers. PMID:27284672

Metamaterials , i.e. artificial materials with electromagnetic properties not readily available in nature, have become a major research topic in both scientific and engineering communities. Being different from conventional materials, metamaterials possess peculiar electromagnetic properties, e.g. negative refractive index, depending on their structures. In particular, metamaterials form a basis for achieving cloaking device that makes an object invisible or transparency to the probing electromagnetic wave. This topic has significant impact on various fields ranging from optics, medicine, biology to nanotechnology. Several cloaking techniques have been proposed by different research groups, namely, anomalous localized resonance, transformation optics, and scattering cancellation, etc. Each of them has its own advantages and disadvantages. For instance, the limitation in working frequency is a primary disadvantage of them. This thesis is concentrated on controlling electromagnetic field by graded metamaterials, i.e, metamaterials with graded structures, with the objective to realize the broadband electromagnetic transparency by extending the working frequency. Regarding the limitations of existing cloaking techniques, we propose the graded model based on the scattering cancellation technique, because it does not rely on resonant phenomena, and is fairly robust to relatively high variations of the shape and electromagnetic properties of the cloaked object. We modify the original Mie theory and Rayleigh scattering theory to deal with the graded metamaterial structures, and calculate the scattering cross section of graded isotropic and anisotropic spherical structures, an alytically and numerically. For the graded isotropic spherical structure, we achieve the exact analytic expressions for both full-wave and Rayleigh scattering cross sections, within our modified Mie theory and Rayleigh scattering theory. The numerical studies on the scattering cross sections clearly

Metamaterials are of interest due to their ability to produce novel acoustic behaviour beyond that seen in naturally occurring media. Of particular interest is the appearance of band gaps which lead to very high levels of attenuation within narrow frequency ranges. Resonant elements within metamaterials allow band gaps to form within the long wavelength limit at low frequencies where traditional passive isolation solutions suffer poor performance. Hence metamaterials may provide a path to high performance, low frequency isolation. Two metamaterials are presented here. An acoustic material consisting of an array of split hollow spheres is developed, and its performance is validated experimentally. The application of an acoustic/mechanical analogy allows the development of an elastodynamic metamaterial that could be employed as a high performance vibration isolator at low frequencies. A prototype isolator is manufactured, and its performance is measured. The passively occurring band gap is enhanced using an active control architecture. The use of the active control system in conjunction with the natural passive behaviour of the metamaterial enables high levels of isolation across a broad frequency range. An eventual goal of the work is to produce such materials on a small scale, and as such the metamaterials developed are designed for, and produced using, additive layer manufacturing techniques.

This paper designed a special acoustic metamaterial 3D Kagome lattice sandwich plate. Dispersion properties and vibration responses of both traditional plate and metamaterial plate are investigated based on FEA methods. The traditional plate does not have low-frequency complete bandgaps, but the metamaterial plate has low-frequency complete bandgap (at 620Hz) coming from the symmetrical local cantilever resonators. The bandgap frequency is approximate to the first-order natural frequency of the oscillator. Complex wave modes are analyzed. The dispersion curves of longitudinal waves exist in the flexural bandgap. The dispersion properties demonstrate the metamaterial design is advantageous to suppress the low-frequency flexural wave propagation in lattice sandwich plate. The flexural vibrations near the bandgap are also suppressed efficiently. The longitudinal excitation stimulates mainly longitudinal waves and lots of low-frequency flexural vibration modes are avoided. Furthermore, the free edge effects in metamaterial plate provide new method for damping optimizations. The influences of damping on vibrations of the metamaterial sandwich plate are studied. Damping has global influence on the wave propagation; stronger damping will induce more vibration attenuation. The results enlighten us damping and metamaterial design approaches can be unite in the sandwich plates to suppress the wave propagations.

Chiral hyperbolic metamaterials are predicted to show interesting properties associated with possible topological photonic states in these materials, which present new opportunities for light control and manipulation. As prototypes, we consider two metal-dielectric systems designed for microwave range: a twisted wires array, where chirality is associated with shape of metal inclusions, and a rotated layer system, with parallel wires in each layer, and direction of the wires orientation rotated from layer to layer. Systems with different content of metal and layer-to-layer distance were fabricated and studied in the free space propagation experiment. The results were discussed in terms of effective media consideration.

One of the intriguing potentials of metamaterials is the possibility to realize a nonlocal electromagnetic reaction, such that the effective medium response at a given point is fundamentally entangled with the macroscopic field distribution at long distances. Here, it is experimentally and numerically verified that a microwave nonlocal metamaterial formed by crossed metallic wires enables a low-loss broadband anomalous material response such that the refractive index decreases with frequency. Notably, it is shown that an electromagnetic beam refracted by our metamaterial prism creates a reversed microwave rainbow.

One of the intriguing potentials of metamaterials is the possibility to realize a nonlocal electromagnetic reaction, such that the effective medium response at a given point is fundamentally entangled with the macroscopic field distribution at long distances. Here, it is experimentally and numerically verified that a microwave nonlocal metamaterial formed by crossed metallic wires enables a low-loss broadband anomalous material response such that the refractive index decreases with frequency. Notably, it is shown that an electromagnetic beam refracted by our metamaterial prism creates a reversed microwave rainbow.

We report the existence of Weyl points in a class of noncentral symmetric metamaterials, which has time reversal symmetry, but does not have inversion symmetry due to chiral coupling between electric and magnetic fields. This class of metamaterial exhibits either type-I or type-II Weyl points depending on its nonlocal response. We also provide a physical realization of such metamaterial consisting of an array of metal wires in the shape of elliptical helices which exhibits type-II Weyl points. PMID:27517792

Microbolometers are modified by metallic resonant absorber elements, leading to an enhanced responsivity at selectable wavelengths. The dissipative energy absorption of tailored metamaterials allows for engineering the response of conventional bolometer microbridges. The absorption peak position and height are determined by the geometry of the metamaterial. Square-shaped metal/dielectric/metal stacks as absorber elements show spectral resonances at wavelengths between 4.8 and 7.0 microm in accordance with numerical simulations. Total peak absorptions of 0.8 are obtained. The metamaterial modified bolometers are suitable for multispectral thermal imaging systems in the mid-IR and terahertz regime. PMID:19794799

Metamaterials have paved the way to unprecedented control of the electromagnetic field. The conjunction with space coordinate transformation has led to a “relativity inspired” approach for the control of light propagation. “Invisibility cloak” is the most fascinating proposed device. However, the realized structures up to now used a graded “metamagnetic” so as to achieve the cloaking function. Artificial magnetism is still very challenging to obtain in optics despite the currently promising building blocks, not suited for optical cloaking. We report here the experimental demonstration of a nonmagnetic cloak at microwave frequencies by direct mapping of the magnetic field together with the experimental characterization of a cloak in free space configuration. The diameter of the concealed region is as big as 4.4 in wavelength units, the biggest reported experimentally so far. The principle can be scaled down to optical domain while keeping the compatibility with current nanofabrication technologies.

Coherent superposition of light from subwavelength sources is an attractive prospect for the manipulation of the direction, shape and polarization of optical beams. This phenomenon constitutes the basis of phased arrays, commonly used at microwave and radio frequencies. Here we propose a new concept for phased-array sources at infrared frequencies based on metamaterial nanocavities coupled to a highly nonlinear semiconductor heterostructure. Optical pumping of the nanocavity induces a localized, phase-locked, nonlinear resonant polarization that acts as a source feed for a higher-order resonance of the nanocavity. Varying the nanocavity design enables the production of beams with arbitrary shape and polarization. As an example, we demonstrate two second harmonic phased-array sources that perform two optical functions at the second harmonic wavelength (~5 μm): a beam splitter and a polarizing beam splitter. As a result, proper design of the nanocavity and nonlinear heterostructure will enable such phased arrays to span most of the infrared spectrum.

Coherent superposition of light from subwavelength sources is an attractive prospect for the manipulation of the direction, shape and polarization of optical beams. This phenomenon constitutes the basis of phased arrays, commonly used at microwave and radio frequencies. Here we propose a new concept for phased-array sources at infrared frequencies based on metamaterial nanocavities coupled to a highly nonlinear semiconductor heterostructure. Optical pumping of the nanocavity induces a localized, phase-locked, nonlinear resonant polarization that acts as a source feed for a higher-order resonance of the nanocavity. Varying the nanocavity design enables the production of beams with arbitrary shape and polarization. As an example, we demonstrate two second harmonic phased-array sources that perform two optical functions at the second harmonic wavelength (~5 μm): a beam splitter and a polarizing beam splitter. Proper design of the nanocavity and nonlinear heterostructure will enable such phased arrays to span most of the infrared spectrum.

Recently, the possibility of achieving one-way backscatter immune transportation of light by mimicking the topological properties of certain solid state systems, such as topological insulators, has received much attention. Thus far, however, demonstrations of nontrivial topology in photonics have relied on photonic crystals with precisely engineered lattice structures, periodic on the scale of the operational wavelength and composed of finely tuned, complex materials. Here we propose a novel effective medium approach towards achieving topologically protected photonic surface states robust against disorder on all length scales and for a wide range of material parameters. Remarkably, the nontrivial topology of our metamaterial design results from the Berry curvature arising from the transversality of electromagnetic waves in a homogeneous medium. Our investigation therefore acts to bridge the gap between the advancing field of topological band theory and classical optical phenomena such as the spin Hall effect of light. The effective medium route to topological phases will pave the way for highly compact one-way transportation of electromagnetic waves in integrated photonic circuits. PMID:25659022

Artificial chiral media composed of randomly oriented helices or other left-right asymmetrical (chiral) inclusions (with sizes typically less than a wavelength), embedded within an achiral background medium, belong to a new class of opticalmetamaterials (MTMs). Unlike other electromagnetic designs, which try to eliminate the cross-polarization, the sensitivity of rotation to the polarization state and the elliptization of visible light diffracted from the chiral structures, derived from the handedness form, appeals to optoelectronic technologies. It was shown that due to a strong resonant interaction between chiral particles and dipoles, a stop band is formed in the frequency area where the backward wave regime can be generated. Hence, some of the chiral metamaterials can exhibit negative refractive index (NRI) properties. Chiral materials are not invariant to inversion: there is a distinction between right- and left-handed materials. Chiral resonance can lead to negative refraction of one polarization, resulting in improved and simplified designs of negatively refracting materials. These NRI chiral metamaterials can be the key to the materialization of the negative-refraction effect, perfect lenses, invisible cloak, and other optical applications in the visible and optical frequency regimes. In this work, based on circuit analysis and group theory, several novel MTMs with different special properties are proposed. These MTMS are: (1) Novel broadband NRI metamaterials, a model of spilt-ring resonator/wire composite MTM which can create a negative index passband approximately two and a half times higher than those of the conventional SRR/wire structures, maintaining identical dimensions; (2) Novel isotropic planar and three-dimensional NRI metamaterials, consisting of "cross" structures. These proposed materials have the added advantage of not possessing any cross-coupling, and, due to the simple structure, are also easy to fabricate; (3) Novel NRI chiral

Propagation of light in a medium is dictated by equifrequency surfaces (EFSs), which play a similar role as Fermi surfaces for electrons in crystals. Engineering the equifrequency surface of light through structuring a photonic medium enables superior control over light propagation that goes beyond natural materials. In this Letter, we show that a bulk metamaterial with a suitably designed bianisotropy can exhibit line degeneracy in its EFSs that consist of two ellipsoids of opposite helicity states intersecting with each other. Very interestingly, light propagating along the direction of the line degeneracy experiences strong spin-dependent photon deflection, or optical spin Hall effect, which may lead to applications in optical signal processing and spin-optical manipulations. We provide a realistic metamaterial design to show that the required bianisotropy can be readily obtained. PMID:26296131

Nonlinear optical processes, which are of paramount importance in science and technology, involve the generation of new frequencies. This requires phase matching to avoid that light generated at different positions interferes destructively. Of the two original approaches to achieve this, one relies on birefringence in optical crystals, and is therefore limited by the dispersion of naturally occurring materials, whereas the other, quasi-phase-matching, requires direct modulation of material properties, which is not universally possible. To overcome these limitations, we propose to exploit the unique dispersion afforded by hyperbolic metamaterials, where the refractive index can be arbitrarily large. We systematically analyse the ensuing opportunities and demonstrate that hyperbolic phase matching can be achieved with a wide range of material parameters, offering access to the use of nonlinear media for which phase matching cannot be achieved by other means. With the rapid development in the fabrication of hyperbolic metamaterials, our approach is destined to bring significant advantages over conventional techniques for the phase matching of a variety of nonlinear processes. PMID:25757863

Large-scale metallic three-dimensional (3D) structures composed of sub-wavelength fine details, called metamaterials, have attracted optical scientists and materials scientists because of their unconventional and extraordinary optical properties that are not seen in nature. However, existing nano-fabrication technologies including two-photon fabrication, e-beam, focused ion-beam, and probe microscopy are not necessarily suitable for fabricating such large-scale 3D metallic nanostructures. In this article, we propose a different method of fabricating metamaterials, which is based on a bottom-up approach. We mimicked the generation of wood forest under the sunlight and rain in nature. In our method, a silver nano-forest is grown from the silver seeds (nanoparticles) placed on the glass substrate in silver-ion solution. The metallic nano-forest is formed only in the area where ultraviolet light is illuminated. The local temperature increases at nano-seeds and tips of nano-trees and their branches due to the plasmonic heating as a result of UV light excitation of localized mode of surface plasmon polaritons. We have made experiments of growth of metallic nano-forest patterned by the light distribution. The experimental results show a beautiful nano-forest made of silver with self-similarity. Fractal dimension and spectral response of the grown structure are discussed. The structures exhibit a broad spectral response from ultraviolet to infrared, which was used for surface-enhanced Raman detection of molecules.

Unusual mechanical properties of mechanical metamaterials are determined by their carefully designed and tightly controlled geometry at the macro- or nanoscale. We introduce a class of nanoscale mechanical metamaterials created by forming continuous corrugated plates out of ultrathin films. Using a periodic three-dimensional architecture characteristic of mechanical metamaterials, we fabricate free-standing plates up to 2 cm in size out of aluminium oxide films as thin as 25 nm. The plates are formed by atomic layer deposition of ultrathin alumina films on a lithographically patterned silicon wafer, followed by complete removal of the silicon substrate. Unlike unpatterned ultrathin films, which tend to warp or even roll up because of residual stress gradients, our plate metamaterials can be engineered to be extremely flat. They weigh as little as 0.1 g cm-2 and have the ability to `pop-back' to their original shape without damage even after undergoing multiple sharp bends of more than 90°.

We present measurements and analysis demonstrating useful direction finding of sources in the S band (2–4 GHz) using a metamaterial detector. An augmented metamaterial absorber that supports magnitude and phase measurement of the incident electric field, within each unit cell, is described. The metamaterial is implemented in a commercial printed circuit board process with off-board back-end electronics. We also discuss on-board back-end implementation strategies. Direction finding performance is analyzed for the fabricated metamaterial detector using simulated data and the standard algorithm, MUtiple SIgnal Classification. The performance of this complete system is characterized by its angular resolution as a function of radiation density at the detector. Sources with power outputs typical of mobile communication devices can be resolved at kilometer distances with sub-degree resolution and high frame rates.

We present the optimized design of an antireflection coating to efficiently couple an incident plane wave into a metamaterial with a complex field profile. We show that such an antireflection coating must enable spatial engineering of the field profiles at the coating/metamaterial interface to achieve high transmission, and therefore it is required to be inhomogeneous. As a demonstration, we investigate theoretically a waveguide-based negative-index metamaterial, which under normal incidence cannot be excited due to the antisymmetric propagating eigenmode. Through careful engineering of the field profile, lateral position, and thickness of the coating layer, we enhance the transmission under normal incidence from 0 % to 100 % . This principle may generally be applied to overcome low coupling efficiency between incident plane waves and complex mode profiles in metamaterials.

Arrays of lumped circuit elements can be used to form metamaterial resonant structures that exhibit novel behavior compared to resonators made from conventional distributed transmission lines. By engineering the parameters and configurations of the lumped elements composing the unit cell of such a metamaterial resonator, one can generate spectra with wide stop-bands as well as pass-bands with dense microwave modes. If the metamaterials are fabricated from superconducting traces, the losses can be low enough to allow for these dense modes to be resolved and potentially coupled to quantum systems, such as superconducting qubits. We will present our low-temperature measurements of a variety of superconducting metamaterial resonators and we will compare these with numerical simulations of the microwave properties.

In this work, we assess theoretically the physical response of metamaterial composite structures that emulate the behavior of negative-permittivity materials in certain relevant setups. The metamaterials under analysis consist of metallic parallel-plate implants embedded in a dielectric host in a two-dimensional geometry. Simple design rules and formulas are presented, fully considering the effect and consequences of excitation of higher-order diffraction modes at the metamaterial-dielectric interface. Following the ideas of transparency and cloaking developed by us [Alù and Engheta, Phys. Rev. E 72, 016623 (2005)], we demonstrate, analytically and numerically, that it is possible in this way to design metamaterial cloaks that significantly reduce the total scattering cross section of a given two-dimensional dielectric obstacle in some frequency band. This effect, which may be realized in a feasible way, may find interesting applications in electromagnetic cloaking, total scattering cross section reduction, and noninvasive probing. PMID:17500805

We demonstrate theoretically that one can obtain repulsive Casimir forces and stable nanolevitations by using chiral metamaterials. By extending the Lifshitz theory to treat chiral metamaterials, we find that a repulsive force and a minimum of the interaction energy possibly exist for strong chirality, under realistic frequency dependencies and correct limiting values (for zero and infinite frequencies) of the permittivity, permeability, and chiral coefficients. PMID:19792309

We present a dynamic metamaterial aperture for use in computational imaging schemes at microwave frequencies. The aperture consists of an array of complementary, resonant metamaterial elements patterned into the upper conductor of a microstrip line. Each metamaterial element contains two diodes connected to an external control circuit such that the resonance of the metamaterial element can be damped by application of a bias voltage. Through applying different voltages to the control circuit, select subsets of the elements can be switched on to create unique radiation patterns that illuminate the scene. Spatial information of an imaging domain can thus be encoded onto this set of radiation patterns, or measurements, which can be processed to reconstruct the targets in the scene using compressive sensing algorithms. We discuss the design and operation of a metamaterial imaging system and demonstrate reconstructed images with a 10:1 compression ratio. Dynamic metamaterial apertures can potentially be of benefit in microwave or millimeter wave systems such as those used in security screening and through-wall imaging. In addition, feature-specific or adaptive imaging can be facilitated through the use of the dynamic aperture.

We have developed active metamaterials capable of quickly tuning their electrical and magnetic responses over a wide frequency range. These metamaterials are based on superconducting elements to form low loss, physically and electrically small, highly tunable structures for fundamental studies of extraordinarily nonlinear media. The meta-atoms are rf superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) that incorporate the Josephson effect. RF SQUIDs have an inductance which is strongly tunable with dc and rf magnetic fields and currents. The rf SQUID metamaterial is a richly nonlinear effective medium introducing qualitatively new macroscopic quantum phenomena into the metamaterials community, namely magnetic flux quantization and the Josephson effect. The coherent oscillation of the meta-atoms is strongly sensitive to the environment and measurement conditions, and we have developed several strategies to improve the coherence experimentally by exploiting ideas from nonlinear dynamics. The metamaterials also display a unique form of transparency whose development can be manipulated through multiple parametric dependences. We discuss these qualitatively new metamaterial phenomena. This work is supported by the NSF-GOALI and OISE Programs through Grant No. ECCS-1158644 and the Center for Nanophysics and Advanced Materials (CNAM).

We present a dynamic metamaterial aperture for use in computational imaging schemes at microwave frequencies. The aperture consists of an array of complementary, resonant metamaterial elements patterned into the upper conductor of a microstrip line. Each metamaterial element contains two diodes connected to an external control circuit such that the resonance of the metamaterial element can be damped by application of a bias voltage. Through applying different voltages to the control circuit, select subsets of the elements can be switched on to create unique radiation patterns that illuminate the scene. Spatial information of an imaging domain can thus be encoded onto this set of radiation patterns, or measurements, which can be processed to reconstruct the targets in the scene using compressive sensing algorithms. We discuss the design and operation of a metamaterial imaging system and demonstrate reconstructed images with a 10:1 compression ratio. Dynamic metamaterial apertures can potentially be of benefit in microwave or millimeter wave systems such as those used in security screening and through-wall imaging. In addition, feature-specific or adaptive imaging can be facilitated through the use of the dynamic aperture.

New scientific and technological opportunities exist by marrying dusty plasma research with metamaterials. Specifically, by balancing control and self-assembly, certain laboratory plasmas can become a generic levitation platform for novel structure formation and nanomaterial synthesis. We propose to experimentally investigate two dimensional (2D) and three dimensional (3D) levitated structures of metamaterials and their properties. Such structures can self assemble in laboratory plasmas, similar to levitated dust crystals which were discovered in the mid 1990's. Laboratory plasma platform for metamaterial formation eliminates substrates upon which most metamaterials have to be supported. Three types of experiments, with similar setups, are discussed here. Levitated crystal structures of metamaterials using anisotropic microparticles are the most basic of the three. The second experiment examines whether quasicrystals of metamaterials are possible. Quasicrystals, discovered in the 1980's, possess so-called forbidden symmetries according to the conventional crystallography. The proposed experiment could answer many fundamental questions about structural, thermal and dynamical properties of quasicrystals. And finally, how to use nanoparticle coated microparticles to synthesize very long carbon nanotubes is also described. All of the experiments can fit inside a standard International Space Station locker with dimensions of 8-inch x 17-inch X 18-inch. Microgravity environment is deemed essential in particular for large 3D structures and very long carbon nanotube synthesis.

Recent progress in the area of hyperbolic metamaterials (HMMs) has sparked interest in transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) that behave as plasmonic media in the near-IR and at optical frequencies for imaging and sensing applications. It has been shown that by depositing alternating layers of negative-epsilon/positive-epsilon materials, a medium can be created with unusual index values such as near zero. HMMs support high-k waves corresponding to a diverging photonic density of states (PDOS), the quantity determining phenomena such as spontaneous and thermal emission. Also, modeling such structures allows evanescent fields containing sub-wavelength information to be coupled to propagating radiation. We investigate the optical, electronic, and physical properties of radio frequency plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxial (RF-MBE) growth of alternating layers of ZnO and TCO of uniform thickness for HMM applications. Preliminary work creating HMMs with ZnO and Al-doped ZnO (AZO) has shown a negative real part of the permittivity at near-IR whose modulus is proportional to the number density of Al dopant. However, increasing the Al content of the AZO increases the transmission losses to unacceptable levels for device applications at industry standard wavelengths. A TCO with conductivity and physical structure superior to that of AZO is gallium-doped ZnO (GZO). Uniformly grown GZO has been demonstrated to possess improved crystal quality over AZO due to the higher diffusivity of Al in the ZnO. AZO and GZO HMM structures grown by RF-MBE are characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Hall effect, four-point probing, deeplevel transient spectroscopy (DLTS), ellipsometry, visible and ultraviolet spectroscopy (UV-VIS) and in-situ reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED).

A novel three-dimensional (3D) metallic metamaterial structure with asymmetric transmission for linear polarization is demonstrated in the infrared spectral region. The structure was fabricated by direct laser writing and selective electroless silver coating, a straightforward, novel technique producing mechanically and chemically stable 3D photonic structures. The structure unit cell is composed of a pair of conductively coupled magnetic resonators, and the asymmetric transmission response results from interplay of electric and magnetic responses; this equips the structure with almost total opaqueness along one propagation direction versus satisfying transparency along the opposite one. It also offers easily adjustable impedance, 90° one-way puremore » optical activity and backward propagation possibility, resulting thus in unique capabilities in polarization control and isolation applications. We show also that scaling down the structure can make it capable of exhibiting its asymmetric transmission and its polarization capabilities in the optical region.« less

A novel three-dimensional (3D) metallic metamaterial structure with asymmetric transmission for linear polarization is demonstrated in the infrared spectral region. The structure was fabricated by direct laser writing and selective electroless silver coating, a straightforward, novel technique producing mechanically and chemically stable 3D photonic structures. The structure unit cell is composed of a pair of conductively coupled magnetic resonators, and the asymmetric transmission response results from interplay of electric and magnetic responses; this equips the structure with almost total opaqueness along one propagation direction versus satisfying transparency along the opposite one. It also offers easily adjustable impedance, 90° one-way pure optical activity and backward propagation possibility, resulting thus in unique capabilities in polarization control and isolation applications. We show also that scaling down the structure can make it capable of exhibiting its asymmetric transmission and its polarization capabilities in the optical region.

Hyperbolic materials enable numerous surprising applications that include far-field subwavelength imaging, nanolithography, and emission engineering. The wavevector of a plane wave in these media follows the surface of a hyperboloid in contrast to an ellipsoid for conventional anisotropic dielectric. The consequences of hyperbolic dispersion were first studied in the 50's pertaining to the problems of electromagnetic wave propagation in the Earth's ionosphere and in the stratified artificial materials of transmission lines. Recent years have brought explosive growth in optics and photonics of hyperbolic media based on metamaterials across the optical spectrum. Here we summarize earlier theories in the Clemmow's prescription for transformation of the electromagnetic field in hyperbolic media and provide a review of recent developments in this active research area. PMID:23787692

We propose a novel mechanism for designing quantum hyperbolic metamaterials with the use of semiconductor Bragg mirrors containing periodically arranged quantum wells. The hyperbolic dispersion of exciton-polariton modes is realized near the top of the first allowed photonic miniband in such a structure which leads to the formation of exciton-polariton X waves. Exciton-light coupling provides a resonant nonlinearity which leads to nontrivial topologic solutions. We predict the formation of low amplitude spatially localized oscillatory structures: oscillons described by kink shaped solutions of the effective Ginzburg-Landau-Higgs equation. The oscillons have direct analogies in gravitational theory. We discuss implementation of exciton-polariton Higgs fields for the Schrödinger cat state generation. PMID:26196825

Acoustic metamaterials that allow low-frequency band gaps are interesting for many practical engineering applications, where vibration control and sound insulation are necessary. In most prior studies, the mechanical response of these structures has been described using linear continuum approximations. In this work, we experimentally and theoretically address the formation of low-frequency band gaps in locally resonant granular crystals, where the dynamics of the system is governed by discrete equations. We investigate the quasi-linear behavior of such structures. The analysis shows that a stopband can be introduced at about one octave lower frequency than in materials without local resonances. Broadband and multi-frequency stopband characteristics can also be achieved by strategically tailoring the non-uniform local resonance parameters.

Using rigorous transfer matrix theory and full-vector Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) simulations in combination with Wavelet Transform Modulus Maxima analysis of multifractal spectra, we demonstrate all-dielectric aperiodic metamaterial structures that exhibit sub-diffusive photon transport properties that are widely tunable across the near-infrared spectral range. The proposed approach leverages the unprecedented spectral scalability offered by aperiodic photonic systems and demonstrates the possibility of achieving logarithmic Sinai sub-diffusion of photons for the first time. In particular we will show that the control of multifractal energy spectra and critical modes in aperiodic metamaterials with nanoscale dielectric components enables tuning of anomalous optical transport from sub- to super-diffusive dynamics, in close analogy with the electron dynamics in quasi-periodic potentials. Fractional diffusion equations models will be introduced for the efficient modeling of photon sub-diffusive processes in metamaterials and applications to diffraction-free propagation in aperiodic media will be provided. The ability to tailor photon transport phenomena in metamaterials with properties originating from aperiodic geometrical correlations can lead to novel functionalities and active devices that rely on anomalous photon sub-diffusion to control beam collimation and non-resonantly enhance light-matter interaction across multiple spectral bands.

In this paper, by utilizing the variable conductivity with photo-injection in gallium arsenide (GaAs), we have designed an asymmetrical planar terahertz (THz) metamaterial, which is connected with two single-gap split ring resonator (SRR) by GaAs strip and demonstrated the resonant conversion of SRR within the THz range under appropriate optical pumping. As central trailing arm of the structure, GaAs is skillfully inserted between the two cross arms of the THz metamaterial and plays a key role in resonant conversion. Through modulation of its conductivity (σGaAs), the variable conductivity of GaAs can make one dual-gap SRR into two connective single-gap SRRs in physical structure, at the same time, the state conversion of two different resonances in the THz metamaterial has been achieved. The simulation results show that the resonant states of THz metamaterial can be switched from one LC and one dipole (state 1) to two LC and one new dipole (state 2) through the intermediate state with the increasing σGaAs. This structural design provides a new example to apply variable conductivity to achieve state conversion of resonance and can be extended to the additional application in THz devices.

One of the basic functionalities of photonic devices is the ability to manipulate the polarization state of light. Polarization components are usually implemented using the retardation effect in natural birefringent crystals and, thus, have a bulky design. Here, we have demonstrated the polarization manipulation of light by employing a thin subwavelength slab of metamaterial with an extremely anisotropic effective permittivity tensor. Polarization properties of light incident on the metamaterial in the regime of hyperbolic, epsilon-near-zero, and conventional elliptic dispersions were compared. We have shown that both reflection from and transmission through λ/20 thick slab of the metamaterial may provide nearly complete linear-to-circular polarization conversion or 90° linear polarization rotation, not achievable with natural materials. Using ellipsometric measurements, we experimentally studied the polarization conversion properties of the metamaterial slab made of the plasmonic nanorod arrays in different dispersion regimes. We have also suggested all-optical ultrafast control of reflected or transmitted light polarization by employing metal nonlinearities. PMID:23787679

Recently it was shown by experiments that circular dichroism (CD) can be observed in the metamaterials of non-chiral structures when they were subjected to obliquely incident light (E. Plum, et al., Physical Review Letters 102, 113902, 2009). By far, external chirality simulation was only done for a particle array embedded in a homogenous medium (V. Yannopapas, Optics Letters 34, 5, 2009); no attempt has been made on simulating and modelling of circular dichroism in layered metamaterials (e.g., thin film on substrate structure). In this paper, we present the simulation of CD effect in layered external chiral metamaterials using CST software, theoretically investigate this intriguing phenomenon through a frequency domain finite integration technique, and optimize the metamaterial unit cell configurations (size, periodicity and film thickness) to maximize the CD phenomenon in near-infrared spectrum range. We show that the CD effect can be enhanced by five times using an optimized unit cell configuration, which is more than three times higher than the existing maximum theoretical results. The CD generation mechanism was elaborated with the help of induced surface current distributions.

Metamaterials and plasmonics are powerful tools for unconventional manipulation and harnessing of light. Metamaterials can be engineered to possess intriguing properties lacking in natural materials, such as negative refractive index. Plasmonics offers capabilities of confining light in subwavelength dimensions and enhancing light-matter interactions. Recently, the technological potential of graphene-based plasmonics has been recognized as the latter features large tunability, higher field-confinement and lower loss compared with metal-based plasmonics. Here, we introduce hybrid structures comprising graphene plasmonic resonators coupled to conventional split-ring resonators, thus demonstrating a type of highly tunable metamaterial, where the interaction between the two resonances reaches the strong-coupling regime. Such hybrid metamaterials are employed as high-speed THz modulators, exhibiting ~60% transmission modulation and operating speed in excess of 40 MHz. This device concept also provides a platform for exploring cavity-enhanced light-matter interactions and optical processes in graphene plasmonic structures for applications including sensing, photo-detection and nonlinear frequency generation.

Metamaterials and plasmonics are powerful tools for unconventional manipulation and harnessing of light. Metamaterials can be engineered to possess intriguing properties lacking in natural materials, such as negative refractive index. Plasmonics offers capabilities of confining light in subwavelength dimensions and enhancing light–matter interactions. Recently, the technological potential of graphene-based plasmonics has been recognized as the latter features large tunability, higher field-confinement and lower loss compared with metal-based plasmonics. Here, we introduce hybrid structures comprising graphene plasmonic resonators coupled to conventional split-ring resonators, thus demonstrating a type of highly tunable metamaterial, where the interaction between the two resonances reaches the strong-coupling regime. Such hybrid metamaterials are employed as high-speed THz modulators, exhibiting ∼60% transmission modulation and operating speed in excess of 40 MHz. This device concept also provides a platform for exploring cavity-enhanced light–matter interactions and optical processes in graphene plasmonic structures for applications including sensing, photo-detection and nonlinear frequency generation. PMID:26584781

Terahertz (THz) frequencies comprise the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum more energetic than microwaves, but less energetic than infrared light. The THz band presents many opportunities for condensed matter physics and optics engineering. From the physics perspective, advances in the generation and detection of THz radiation have opened the door for spectroscopic studies of a range of solid-state phenomena that manifest at THz frequencies. From an engineering perspective, THz frequencies are an under-used spectral region, ripe for the development of new devices. In both cases, the challenge for researchers is to overcome a lack of sources, detectors, and optics for THz light, termed the THz Gap. Metamaterials (MMs), composite structures with engineered index of refraction, n, and impedance, Z, provide one path towards realizing THz optics. MMs are an ideal platform for the design of local EM field distributions, and far-field optical properties. This is especially true at THz frequencies, where fabrication of inclusions is easily accomplished with photolithography. Historically, MM designs have been based around static configurations of resonant inclusions that work only in a narrow frequency band, limiting applications. Broadband and tunable MMs are needed to overcome this limit. This dissertation focuses on creating tunable and controllable MM structures through the manipulation of electromagnetic interactions between MM inclusions. We introduce three novel MM systems. Each system is studied computationally with CST-Studio, and experimentally via THz spectroscopy. First, we look at the tunable transmission spectrum of two coupled split ring resonators (SRRs) with different resonant frequencies. We show that introducing a lateral displacement between the two component resonators lowers the electromagnetic coupling between the SRRs, activating a new resonance. Second, we study an SRR array, coupled to a non-resonant closed ring array. We show that lowering

Recent developments in engineered electromagnetic materials called metamaterials have opened the door to a whole new class of devices and improved performance in existing systems using electromagnetic properties that are beyond those found in nature. These materials can be designed to have spatially varying anisotropic electromagnetic properties which include positive and negative permeability and permittivity values. The objective of this research was to explore how these newly available degrees of freedom in material parameters can be exploited to improve the performance of smart antenna systems. In this dissertation, we examined adaptive null/beam forming phased array systems in the presence of metamaterial superstrates. While these systems have been studied extensively from a system engineering point-of-view, understanding the system from a material engineering prospective will help define the role that these new materials can play in these systems and how they maybe designed to enhance the overall system performance. One specific area further explored is how to steer the available performance of these systems, preferentially to regions of the scan space where interferers/jammers are most likely to occur, thus improving the system's anti-jamming or interference mitigation capabilities. New performance gains can also be suggested by including the behavior of sources and accompanying material properties in the transformations optics methodology to modify space through material design. This can be achieved using source transformations. Chapter 1 introduces the basic theory of phased array systems and radomes, background of previous work carried out, Controlled Radiation Pattern Antennas, Global Position Systems and a short overview of transformation optics and metamaterials. In Chapter 2, we present analytical, ray tracing and full-wave electromagnetic simulation models to analyze the effect of a quasi-optical element on the array performance. We use these models

Active modulation of the polarization states of terahertz light is indispensable for polarization-sensitive spectroscopy, having important applications such as non-contact Hall measurements, vibrational circular dichroism measurements and anisotropy imaging. In the terahertz region, the lack of a polarization modulator similar to a photoelastic modulator in the visible range hampers expansion of such spectroscopy. A terahertz chiral metamaterial has a huge optical activity unavailable in nature; nevertheless, its modulation is still challenging. Here we demonstrate a handedness-switchable chiral metamaterial for polarization modulation employing vertically deformable Micro Electro Mechanical Systems. Vertical deformation of a planar spiral by a pneumatic force creates a three-dimensional spiral. Enantiomeric switching is realized by selecting the deformation direction, where the polarity of the optical activity is altered while maintaining the spectral shape. A polarization rotation as high as 28° is experimentally observed, thus providing a practical and compact polarization modulator for the terahertz range.

Modern advances in transformation optics and electromagnetic metamaterials made possible experimental demonstrations of highly unusual curvilinear “optical spaces”, such as various geometries necessary for electromagnetic cloaking. Recently we demonstrated that mapping light intensity in a hyperbolic metamaterial may also model the flow of time in an effective (2+1) dimensional Minkowski spacetime. Curving such an effective spacetime creates experimental model of a toy “big bang”. Here we demonstrate that at low light levels this model may be used to emulate a fully covariant version of quantum mechanics in a (2+1) dimensional Minkowski spacetime. When quantum mechanical description is applied near the toy “big bang”, the Everett's “universal wave function” formalism arises naturally, in which the wave function of the model “universe” appears to be a quantum superposition of mutually orthogonal “parallel universe” states.

We employ both the effective medium approximation (EMA) and Bloch theory to compare the dispersion properties of semiconductor hyperbolic metamaterials (SHMs) at mid-infrared frequencies and metallic hyperbolic metamaterials (MHMs) at visible frequencies. This analysis reveals the conditions under which the EMA can be safely applied for both MHMs and SHMs. We find that the combination of precise nanoscale layering and the longer infrared operating wavelengths puts the SHMs well within the effective medium limit and, in contrast to MHMs, allows for the attainment of very high photon momentum states. Additionally, SHMs allow for new phenomena such as ultrafast creation ofmore » the hyperbolic manifold through optical pumping. Furthermore, we examine the possibility of achieving ultrafast topological transitions through optical pumping which can photo-dope appropriately designed quantum wells on the femtosecond time scale.« less

We employ both the effective medium approximation (EMA) and Bloch theory to compare the dispersion properties of semiconductor hyperbolic metamaterials (SHMs) at mid-infrared frequencies and metallic hyperbolic metamaterials (MHMs) at visible frequencies. This analysis reveals the conditions under which the EMA can be safely applied for both MHMs and SHMs. We find that the combination of precise nanoscale layering and the longer infrared operating wavelengths puts the SHMs well within the effective medium limit and, in contrast to MHMs, allows for the attainment of very high photon momentum states. Additionally, SHMs allow for new phenomena such as ultrafast creation ofmore » the hyperbolic manifold through optical pumping. Furthermore, we examine the possibility of achieving ultrafast topological transitions through optical pumping which can photo-dope appropriately designed quantum wells on the femtosecond time scale.« less

We employ both the effective medium approximation (EMA) and Bloch theory to compare the dispersion properties of semiconductor hyperbolic metamaterials (SHMs) at mid-infrared frequencies and metallic hyperbolic metamaterials (MHMs) at visible frequencies. This analysis reveals the conditions under which the EMA can be safely applied for both MHMs and SHMs. We find that the combination of precise nanoscale layering and the longer infrared operating wavelengths puts the SHMs well within the effective medium limit and, in contrast to MHMs, allows for the attainment of very high photon momentum states. Additionally, SHMs allow for new phenomena such as ultrafast creation of the hyperbolic manifold through optical pumping. Furthermore, we examine the possibility of achieving ultrafast topological transitions through optical pumping which can photo-dope appropriately designed quantum wells on the femtosecond time scale.

We employ both the effective medium approximation (EMA) and Bloch theory to compare the dispersion properties of semiconductor hyperbolic metamaterials (SHMs) at mid-infrared frequencies and metallic hyperbolic metamaterials (MHMs) at visible frequencies. This analysis reveals the conditions under which the EMA can be safely applied for both MHMs and SHMs. We find that the combination of precise nanoscale layering and the longer infrared operating wavelengths puts the SHMs well within the effective medium limit and, in contrast to MHMs, allows for the attainment of very high photon momentum states. Additionally, SHMs allow for new phenomena such as ultrafast creation of the hyperbolic manifold through optical pumping. Furthermore, we examine the possibility of achieving ultrafast topological transitions through optical pumping which can photo-dope appropriately designed quantum wells on the femtosecond time scale.

Active modulation of the polarization states of terahertz light is indispensable for polarization-sensitive spectroscopy, having important applications such as non-contact Hall measurements, vibrational circular dichroism measurements and anisotropy imaging. In the terahertz region, the lack of a polarization modulator similar to a photoelastic modulator in the visible range hampers expansion of such spectroscopy. A terahertz chiral metamaterial has a huge optical activity unavailable in nature; nevertheless, its modulation is still challenging. Here we demonstrate a handedness-switchable chiral metamaterial for polarization modulation employing vertically deformable Micro Electro Mechanical Systems. Vertical deformation of a planar spiral by a pneumatic force creates a three-dimensional spiral. Enantiomeric switching is realized by selecting the deformation direction, where the polarity of the optical activity is altered while maintaining the spectral shape. A polarization rotation as high as 28° is experimentally observed, thus providing a practical and compact polarization modulator for the terahertz range. PMID:26423346

We employ both the effective medium approximation (EMA) and Bloch theory to compare the dispersion properties of semiconductor hyperbolic metamaterials (SHMs) at mid-infrared frequencies and metallic hyperbolic metamaterials (MHMs) at visible frequencies. This analysis reveals the conditions under which the EMA can be safely applied for both MHMs and SHMs. We find that the combination of precise nanoscale layering and the longer infrared operating wavelengths puts the SHMs well within the effective medium limit and, in contrast to MHMs, allows the attainment of very high photon momentum states. In addition, SHMs allow for new phenomena such as ultrafast creation of the hyperbolic manifold through optical pumping. In particular, we examine the possibility of achieving ultrafast topological transitions through optical pumping which can photo-dope appropriately designed quantum wells on the femtosecond time scale.

We present the design, fabrication and measurement of a perfect miniaturized planar metamaterial absorber based on folded-line structure. The absorber is polarization insensitive, and the absorption remains high even at large incident angles. The simulated and experimental results validate that the ratio between period ( p) and resonant wavelength ( λ) approaches 1/12 at 1.93 GHz. Surface current distributions and energy flow distributions demonstrate that the folded lines, where the absorbing intensity is strongest, play an important role in both perfect absorption and miniaturization design. The ratio p/ λ of the absorber has been further optimized to 1/21 at 550 MHz by increasing the number of folded lines. Besides, a smaller ratio of 1/25 is acquired at 9.6 THz by reducing the dimensions of the structure to nanoscale with careful optimization. This introduced folded-line structure successfully enhances the equivalent inductance and capacitance in a limited volume which has great impact on the design of devices with small size and integration. The proposed metamaterial absorber also has potential applications in wireless communication and optical devices.

Quantum bits (qubits) are at the heart of quantum information processing schemes. Currently, solid-state qubits, and in particular the superconducting ones, seem to satisfy the requirements for being the building blocks of viable quantum computers, since they exhibit relatively long coherence times, extremely low dissipation, and scalability. The possibility of achieving quantum coherence in macroscopic circuits comprising Josephson junctions, envisioned by Legett in the 1980’s, was demonstrated for the first time in a charge qubit; since then, the exploitation of macroscopic quantum effects in low-capacitance Josephson junction circuits allowed for the realization of several kinds of superconducting qubits. Furthermore, coupling between qubits has been successfully achieved that was followed by the construction of multiple-qubit logic gates and the implementation of several algorithms. Here it is demonstrated that induced qubit lattice coherence as well as two remarkable quantum coherent optical phenomena, i.e., self-induced transparency and Dicke-type superradiance, may occur during light-pulse propagation in quantum metamaterials comprising superconducting charge qubits. The generated qubit lattice pulse forms a compound ”quantum breather” that propagates in synchrony with the electromagnetic pulse. The experimental confirmation of such effects in superconducting quantum metamaterials may open a new pathway to potentially powerful quantum computing.

The negative refraction and evanescent-wave canalization effects supported by a layered metamaterial structure obtained by alternating dielectric and plasmonic layers is theoretically analyzed. By using a transmission-line analysis, we formulate a way to rapidly analyze the negative refraction operation for given available materials over a broad range of frequencies and design parameters, and we apply it to broaden the bandwidth of negative refraction. Our analytical model is also applied to explore the possibility of employing active layers for loss compensation. Nonlinear dielectrics can also be considered within this approach, and they are explored in order to add tunability to the optical response, realizing positive-to-zero-to-negative refraction at the same frequency, as a function of the input intensity. Our findings may lead to a better physical understanding and improvement of the performance of negative refraction and subwavelength imaging in layered metamaterials, paving the way towards the design of gain-assisted hyperlenses and tunable nonlinear imaging devices. PMID:23787691

Quantum bits (qubits) are at the heart of quantum information processing schemes. Currently, solid-state qubits, and in particular the superconducting ones, seem to satisfy the requirements for being the building blocks of viable quantum computers, since they exhibit relatively long coherence times, extremely low dissipation, and scalability. The possibility of achieving quantum coherence in macroscopic circuits comprising Josephson junctions, envisioned by Legett in the 1980’s, was demonstrated for the first time in a charge qubit; since then, the exploitation of macroscopic quantum effects in low-capacitance Josephson junction circuits allowed for the realization of several kinds of superconducting qubits. Furthermore, coupling between qubits has been successfully achieved that was followed by the construction of multiple-qubit logic gates and the implementation of several algorithms. Here it is demonstrated that induced qubit lattice coherence as well as two remarkable quantum coherent optical phenomena, i.e., self-induced transparency and Dicke-type superradiance, may occur during light-pulse propagation in quantum metamaterials comprising superconducting charge qubits. The generated qubit lattice pulse forms a compound ”quantum breather” that propagates in synchrony with the electromagnetic pulse. The experimental confirmation of such effects in superconducting quantum metamaterials may open a new pathway to potentially powerful quantum computing. PMID:27403780

Quantum bits (qubits) are at the heart of quantum information processing schemes. Currently, solid-state qubits, and in particular the superconducting ones, seem to satisfy the requirements for being the building blocks of viable quantum computers, since they exhibit relatively long coherence times, extremely low dissipation, and scalability. The possibility of achieving quantum coherence in macroscopic circuits comprising Josephson junctions, envisioned by Legett in the 1980's, was demonstrated for the first time in a charge qubit; since then, the exploitation of macroscopic quantum effects in low-capacitance Josephson junction circuits allowed for the realization of several kinds of superconducting qubits. Furthermore, coupling between qubits has been successfully achieved that was followed by the construction of multiple-qubit logic gates and the implementation of several algorithms. Here it is demonstrated that induced qubit lattice coherence as well as two remarkable quantum coherent optical phenomena, i.e., self-induced transparency and Dicke-type superradiance, may occur during light-pulse propagation in quantum metamaterials comprising superconducting charge qubits. The generated qubit lattice pulse forms a compound "quantum breather" that propagates in synchrony with the electromagnetic pulse. The experimental confirmation of such effects in superconducting quantum metamaterials may open a new pathway to potentially powerful quantum computing. PMID:27403780

Metamaterials (MM), artificial materials engineered to have properties that may not be found in nature, have been widely explored since the first theoretical1 and experimental demonstration2 of their unique properties. MMs can provide a highly controllable electromagnetic response, and to date have been demonstrated in every technologically relevant spectral range including the optical3, near IR4, mid IR5 , THz6 , mm-wave7 , microwave8 and radio9 bands. Applications include perfect lenses10, sensors11, telecommunications12, invisibility cloaks13 and filters14,15. We have recently developed single band16, dual band17 and broadband18 THz metamaterial absorber devices capable of greater than 80% absorption at the resonance peak. The concept of a MM absorber is especially important at THz frequencies where it is difficult to find strong frequency selective THz absorbers19. In our MM absorber the THz radiation is absorbed in a thickness of ~ λ/20, overcoming the thickness limitation of traditional quarter wavelength absorbers. MM absorbers naturally lend themselves to THz detection applications, such as thermal sensors, and if integrated with suitable THz sources (e.g. QCLs), could lead to compact, highly sensitive, low cost, real time THz imaging systems. PMID:23299442

The optical properties of metamaterials made by block copolymer self-assembly are tuned by structural and environmental variations. The plasma frequency red-shifts with increasing lattice constant and blue-shifts as the network filling fraction increases. Infiltration with dielectric liquids leads also to a red-shift of the plasma edge. A 300 nm-thick slab of gyroid-structured gold has a remarkable transmission of 20%. PMID:23553887

In this article, a new chiral metamaterial with giant optical activity (90°) around 225 and 285 THz has been proposed which can be acted as a dual-band cross polarization converter (CPC). During the frequency range of proposed CPC, the maximum transmission coefficient and cross polarization conversion efficiency are up to 0.55 and 0.998, respectively. Importantly, the corresponding ellipticities are almost zero at 225 and 285 THz.

The Doppler effect refers to the change in frequency of a wave source as a consequence of the relative motion between the source and an observer. Veselago theoretically predicted that materials with negative refractions can induce inverse Doppler effects. With the development of metamaterials, inverse Doppler effects have been extensively investigated. However, the ideal material parameters prescribed by these metamaterial design approaches are complex and also challenging to obtain experimentally. Here, we demonstrated a method of designing and experimentally characterising arbitrary broadband acoustic metamaterials. These omni-directional, double-negative, acoustic metamaterials are constructed with ‘flute-like’ acoustic meta-cluster sets with seven double meta-molecules; these metamaterials also overcome the limitations of broadband negative bulk modulus and mass density to provide a region of negative refraction and inverse Doppler effects. It was also shown that inverse Doppler effects can be detected in a flute, which has been popular for thousands of years in Asia and Europe. PMID:27578317

Many researching efforts have been reported to seek various fundamental LC resonance structures, recently. But still the Split Ring Resonator (SRR) is the most famous and major fundamental LC-resonance structure used in the metamaterial. We employed SRR structure as the fundamental LC-resonance mechanism to fabricate photonic crystal with periodic arrangement of two different metamaterial areas composed from SRR arrays on the dielectric substrate. We developed Photonic Metamaterial Crystal (PMC) to realize the more advanced and versatile functions of the metamaterial by 1 dimensional or 2 dimensional periodic arranging of two metamaterial sections which have different dispersion properties due to the different size of SRR structures each other. In this paper, we report the fabrication process, estimation of PMC properties and some possible future application prospects, for instance the PMC waveguide structures and nonlinear properties of PMC observed as selective LC-resonant properties in Raman mapping analysis of PMC. These are quite interesting characters of PMC and the attractive applications as the PMC devices.

Within a time span of 15 years, acoustic metamaterials have emerged from academic curiosity to become an active field driven by scientific discoveries and diverse application potentials. This review traces the development of acoustic metamaterials from the initial findings of mass density and bulk modulus frequency dispersions in locally resonant structures to the diverse functionalities afforded by the perspective of negative constitutive parameter values, and their implications for acoustic wave behaviors. We survey the more recent developments, which include compact phase manipulation structures, superabsorption, and actively controllable metamaterials as well as the new directions on acoustic wave transport in moving fluid, elastic, and mechanical metamaterials, graphene-inspired metamaterials, and structures whose characteristics are best delineated by non-Hermitian Hamiltonians. Many of the novel acoustic metamaterial structures have transcended the original definition of metamaterials as arising from the collective manifestations of constituent resonating units, but they continue to extend wave manipulation functionalities beyond those found in nature. PMID:26933692

Within a time span of 15 years, acoustic metamaterials have emerged from academic curiosity to become an active field driven by scientific discoveries and diverse application potentials. This review traces the development of acoustic metamaterials from the initial findings of mass density and bulk modulus frequency dispersions in locally resonant structures to the diverse functionalities afforded by the perspective of negative constitutive parameter values, and their implications for acoustic wave behaviors. We survey the more recent developments, which include compact phase manipulation structures, superabsorption, and actively controllable metamaterials as well as the new directions on acoustic wave transport in moving fluid, elastic, and mechanical metamaterials, graphene-inspired metamaterials, and structures whose characteristics are best delineated by non-Hermitian Hamiltonians. Many of the novel acoustic metamaterial structures have transcended the original definition of metamaterials as arising from the collective manifestations of constituent resonating units, but they continue to extend wave manipulation functionalities beyond those found in nature. PMID:26933692

Microorganisms such as fungi and bacteria cause many human diseases and therefore rapid and accurate identification of these substances is essential for effective treatment and prevention of further infections. In particular, contemporary microbial detection technique is limited by the low detection speed which usually extends over a couple of days. Here we demonstrate that metamaterials operating in the terahertz frequency range shows promising potential for use in fabricating the highly sensitive and selective microbial sensors that are capable of high-speed on-site detection of microorganisms in both ambient and aqueous environments. We were able to detect extremely small amounts of the microorganisms, because their sizes are on the same scale as the micro-gaps of the terahertz metamaterials. The resonant frequency shift of the metamaterials was investigated in terms of the number density and the dielectric constants of the microorganisms, which was successfully interpreted by the change in the effective dielectric constant of a gap area.

Measurement of Cherenkov radiation (CR) has long been a useful technique for charged particle detection and beam diagnostics. We are investigating metamaterials engineered to have refractive indices tailored to enhance properties of CR that are useful for particle detectors and that cannot be obtained using conventional media. Cherenkov radiation in dispersive media with a large refractive index differs significantly from the same effect in conventional detector media, like gases or aerogel. The radiation pattern of CR in dispersive metamaterials presents lobes at very large angles with respect to particle motion. Moreover, the frequency and particle velocity dependence of the radiated energy can differ significantly from CR in a conventional dielectric medium.

We propose a design for broadband waveguide mode conversion based on gradient index metamaterials (GIMs). Numerical simulations demonstrate that the zeroth order of transverse magnetic mode or the first order of transverse electric mode (TM0/TE1) can be converted into the first order of transverse magnetic mode or the second order of transverse electric mode (TM1/TE2) for a broadband of frequencies. As an application, an asymmetric propagation is achieved by integrating zero index metamaterials inside the GIM waveguide. PMID:27098456

Metamaterials enable the emergence of novel physical properties due to the existence of an underlying subwavelength structure. Here, we use the Faraday instability to shape the fluid-air interface with a regular pattern. This pattern undergoes an oscillating secondary instability and exhibits spontaneous vibrations that are analogous to transverse elastic waves. By locally forcing these waves, we fully characterize their dispersion relation and show that a Faraday pattern presents an effective shear elasticity. We propose a physical mechanism combining surface tension with the Faraday structured interface that quantitatively predicts the elastic wave phase speed, revealing that the liquid interface behaves as an elastic metamaterial.

We propose a design for broadband waveguide mode conversion based on gradient index metamaterials (GIMs). Numerical simulations demonstrate that the zeroth order of transverse magnetic mode or the first order of transverse electric mode (TM0/TE1) can be converted into the first order of transverse magnetic mode or the second order of transverse electric mode (TM1/TE2) for a broadband of frequencies. As an application, an asymmetric propagation is achieved by integrating zero index metamaterials inside the GIM waveguide. PMID:27098456

Metamaterials enable the emergence of novel physical properties due to the existence of an underlying subwavelength structure. Here, we use the Faraday instability to shape the fluid-air interface with a regular pattern. This pattern undergoes an oscillating secondary instability and exhibits spontaneous vibrations that are analogous to transverse elastic waves. By locally forcing these waves, we fully characterize their dispersion relation and show that a Faraday pattern presents an effective shear elasticity. We propose a physical mechanism combining surface tension with the Faraday structured interface that quantitatively predicts the elastic wave phase speed, revealing that the liquid interface behaves as an elastic metamaterial. PMID:27300815

Metamaterial layers designed for gigahertz to terahertz (THz)-frequencies have been fabricated by inkjet printing. The spectral response of the structures consisting of periodically arranged metallic split-ring resonators is characterized by THz-time-domain spectroscopy and compared with identical structures produced by conventional photolithography and etching techniques. The broader linewidth of their resonances is shown to originate mainly from structural inhomogeneities. Our study shows that inkjet printing is a viable route for producing metamaterial structures, allowing for rapid processing and flexibility in the choice of substrates.

We demonstrate selective coherent perfect absorption based on interaction between bilayered asymmetrically split rings (ASRs) metamaterials and a standing wave formed by two coherent counter propagating beams. The selective coherent perfect absorbers with high absorption have been achieved depending on the phase difference between two coherent beams. The selective coherent control absorbers can be well designed by changing the thickness of the dielectric layer and the asymmetry of the ASRs. The coherently controlled metamaterials provide an opportunity to realize selective multiband absorption and ultrafast information processing.

In this work, we numerically examine structures that could be characterized as large scale phononic metamaterials. These novel structures could have band gaps in the frequency spectrum of seismic waves when their dimensions are chosen appropriately, thus raising the belief that they could be serious candidates for seismic isolation structures. Different and easy to fabricate structures were examined made from construction materials such as concrete and steel. The well-known finite difference time domain method is used in our calculations in order to calculate the band structures of the proposed metamaterials.

We have studied angular distribution of emission of dye molecules deposited on lamellar metal/dielectric and Si/Ag nanowire based metamaterials with hyperbolic dispersion. In agreement with the theoretical prediction, the emission pattern of dye on top of lamellar metamaterial is similar to that on top of metal. At the same time, the effective medium model predicts the emission patterns of the nanowire array and the dye film deposited on glass to be nearly identical to each other. This is not the case of our experiment. We tentatively explain the nearly Lambertian (∝cosθ) angular distribution of emission of the nanowire based sample by a surface roughness. PMID:25476126

We investigate the dispersion characteristics of locally resonant elastic metamaterials formed by the erection of pillars on the solid regions in a plate patterned by a periodic array of holes. We show that these solid regions effectively act as springboards leading to an enhanced resonance behavior by the pillars when compared to the nominal case of pillars with no holes. This local resonance amplification phenomenon, which we define as the trampoline effect, is shown to cause subwavelength bandgaps to increase in size by up to a factor of 4. This outcome facilitates the utilization of subwavelength metamaterial properties over exceedingly broad frequency ranges.

Sub-millimeter observations are crucial for answering questions about star and galaxy formation; understanding galactic dust foregrounds; and for removing these foregrounds to detect the faint signature of inflationary gravitational waves in the polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). Achieving these goals requires improved, broad-band antireflection coated lenses and half-wave plates (HWPs). These optical elements will significantly boost the sensitivity and capability of future sub-millimeter and CMB missions. We propose to develop wide-bandwidth metamaterial antireflection coatings for silicon lenses and sapphire HWPs with 3:1 ratio bandwidth that are scalable across the sub-millimeter band from 300 GHz to 3 THz. This is an extension of our successful work on saw cut metamaterial AR coatings for silicon optics at millimeter wave lengths. These, and the proposed coatings consist of arrays of sub-wavelength scale features cut into optical surfaces that behave like simple dielectrics. We have demonstrated saw cut 3:1 bandwidth coatings on silicon lenses, but these coatings are limited to the millimeter wave band by the limitations of dicing saw machining. The crucial advance needed to extend these broad band coatings throughout the sub-millimeter band is the development of laser cut graded index metamaterial coatings. The proposed work includes developing the capability to fabricate these coatings, optimizing the design of these metamaterials, fabricating and testing prototype lenses and HWPs, and working with the PIPER collaboration to achieve a sub-orbital demonstration of this technology. The proposed work will develop potentially revolutionary new high performance coatings for the sub-millimeter bands, and cary this technology to TRL 7 paving the way for its use in space. We anticipate that there will be a wide range of applications for these coatings on future NASA balloons and satellites.

Demands by the communications industry for greater bandwidth push the capability of conventional wireless technology. Part of the Radio Spectrum that is suitable for mobility is very limited. Higher frequency waves above 30 GHz tend to travel only a few miles or less and generally do not penetrate solid materials very well. Unmanned Aerial System applications require electronic scanning antenna capabilities, in challenging environmental conditions, over very large bandwidths. In addition to that, it is desirable to have as much reduction as possible in size, weight, power and cost. Metamaterials are recently being introduced by periodic repetition of some inclusions in a host medium, which may be described as effective media characterized by a set of equivalent constitutive parameters. Self-similarity in creating periodic structures is the basis of building volume or 2D holographic components. The latter does more than periodic repeats. Similar, but more advanced concepts (fractal in nature) are used to model phase screens used in modeling the atmospheric turbulence. Unfortunately, metamaterials (MTMs) are anisotropic (direction-dependent) and this makes their application limited in terms of use as antennas for mobile platforms. However, conceptually, controlled-anisotropy can be applied to make phased-arrays, beam-forming, and beam scanning. This issue then begs the question of cost comparison with conventional materials that can be found in nature, e.g., low-cost optics lenses, or conventional RF scanning antennas. As for lensing and fixed platform imaging, the story is very different, as super-lens is expected to be a byproduct. Nevertheless, even if metamaterials become readily available, the atmosphere around the globe cannot be replaced. Neither, broadband wireless connectivity to a mobile can be achieved via fiber optics. This paper, presents a Hybrid radio-frequency (RF) and Wireless Optical solution to provide adaptive sensing in an opportunistic fashion

There has been a considerable amount of interest in the development of various types of electromagnetic wave absorbers for use in different wavelength ranges. In particular, infrared (IR) absorbers with wavelength selectivity can be applied to advanced uncooled IR sensors, which would be capable of identifying objects through their radiation spectrum. In the present study, mushroom plasmonic metamaterial absorbers (MPMAs) for the IR wavelength region were designed and fabricated. The MPMAs consist of a periodic array of thin metal micropatches connected to a thin metal plate with narrow silicon (Si) posts. A Si post height of 200 nm was achieved by isotropic XeF2 etching of a thin Si layer sandwiched between metal plates. This fabrication procedure is relatively simple and is consistent with complementary metal oxide semiconductor technology. The absorption spectra of the fabricated MPMAs were experimentally measured. In addition, theoretical calculations of their absorption properties were conducted using rigorous coupled wave analysis. Both the calculated and measured absorbance results demonstrated that these MPMAs can realize strong selective absorption at wavelengths beyond the period of the array by varying the micropatch width. Absorbance values greater than 90% were achieved. Dual- or single-mode absorption can also be selected by varying the width of the Si posts. Pixel structures using such MPMAs could be used as high responsivity, high resolution and fast uncooled IR sensors.

There has been a considerable amount of interest in the development of various types of electromagnetic wave absorbers for use in different wavelength ranges. In particular, infrared (IR) absorbers with wavelength selectivity can be applied to advanced uncooled IR sensors, which would be capable of identifying objects through their radiation spectrum. In the present study, mushroom plasmonic metamaterial absorbers (MPMAs) for the IR wavelength region were designed and fabricated. The MPMAs consist of a periodic array of thin metal micropatches connected to a thin metal plate with narrow silicon (Si) posts. A Si post height of 200 nm was achieved by isotropic XeF{sub 2} etching of a thin Si layer sandwiched between metal plates. This fabrication procedure is relatively simple and is consistent with complementary metal oxide semiconductor technology. The absorption spectra of the fabricated MPMAs were experimentally measured. In addition, theoretical calculations of their absorption properties were conducted using rigorous coupled wave analysis. Both the calculated and measured absorbance results demonstrated that these MPMAs can realize strong selective absorption at wavelengths beyond the period of the array by varying the micropatch width. Absorbance values greater than 90% were achieved. Dual- or single-mode absorption can also be selected by varying the width of the Si posts. Pixel structures using such MPMAs could be used as high responsivity, high resolution and fast uncooled IR sensors.